Moon Eyes
by Interesteddude
Summary: A certain half-elf summoned someone she wasn't meant to as a familiar. Instead of summoning herself a kind hearted Japanese companion much to a certain pinkette's annoyance, she ended up summoning someone who's particularly good at hating, who's favorite word is power and who in all honest opinion despises anything sweet.
1. The Summoning

Disclaimers, I don't own any series.

Edited in the 5th of January 2015.

**Chapter 1 The Summoning**

The inadvertently crazy story started off as a slight glitch in the working of the universe. Though the mishap would go unnoticed or be considered as a simple nuisance in the eyes of whoever is governing the balance of the worlds, which is no one, it left an everlasting effect on its wake as a certain half-elf summoned someone she wasn't meant to as a familiar. So instead of summoning herself a kind hearted Japanese companion much to a certain pinkette's annoyance, she ended up summoning someone who's particularly good at hating, whose favorite word is power and who in all honest opinion despises anything sweet.

Tiffania Westwood wanted a familiar for herself. The constant bout of intimacy between Saito and Louise was making her jealous, so she convinced Colbert to help her summon a familiar, just to relieve herself of the pain. So at the courtyard beside the Cathedral, she attempted her summoning. She didn't know why the Pope would let her summon her familiar so near his abode since most would consider the act insulting towards Founder Brimir but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Surrounding her were Colbert, Saito, Louise, Kirche, Guiche and Tabitha. They were all wishing her luck and support in their own weird ways. So without beating around the bush, like most nobility did, she chanted her aria.

A green portal showed itself from the middle of the courtyard. Two people recognized it in an instant, one standing beside Tiffania and the other observing from the shadows. The portal glowed intensively, blinding everyone present in its ominous glow, as if it was having a hard time doing what it usually did. This wasn't a usual summoning, everyone understood that. When the light finally died down and to everyone's utter horror, left a bloody, battered and near dead teenaged boy in its departure, everyone started to panic, well mostly Guiche and Louise.

"Someone get a water mage", Colbert barked out and went ahead to inspect the boy's injury. "Miss Tiffania, complete the ritual, it may as well save his life"

Tiffania wasn't going to question how or what, her mother was killed right before her eyes with her unable to do anything. Right now she had the power to save someone's life, which was all she registered in her mind. With a hasty aria, she crashed her lips against the injured boy's own, fearing that it wouldn't be enough to save him. Somehow she felt lightheaded when their lips met, but she chalked it up to the reaction of her first kiss.

Abruptly the boy's eyes snapped open and in a single graceful move he both pushed her away and got up on his feet. He eyed everyone with a critical blood red eye and cringed as the familiar runes were branded onto his chest. When the boy came to, he looked very annoyed but it wasn't the time or place to get annoyed as Tiffania saw it. His wounds still looked severe and he shouldn't be moving around. It was then that she noticed the extent of his injury. He was bloody everywhere, bruises marred his face along with a bloodstained tightly closed left eye and a stump of a severed left arm. She wondered what could have happened to him.

Colbert on the other hand was contemplating what to do, along with Kirche and Tabitha. Their magic was better equipped to cause harm not heal. Guiche had already fled the scene to fetch Montmorency and the boy seemed to have healed enough from the familiar contract ritual but if he kept moving around Colbert doubted that even the Founder could save him. The resident void mage was panicking as expected and Saito was comforting her. All he could do was give a helping hand to the boy.

"You shouldn't be moving around with those wounds", he voiced out his concern, but his noble words fell into deaf ears as the boy started swaying towards Tiffania. She on her part proceeded to support the boy.

Colbert gasped, and he doubted he was the only one as the situation just escalated from bad to worst. In a simple fluid move, the boy twisted Tiffania's arm behind her back and held a knife from his mouth to her exposed neck. Nobody made a move but everyone were sweating bullets. Colbert had no excuses now, he let his guard down and it came to bite him at the least inappropriate time. The boy was speaking now, however it sounded like gibberish. Saito seemed to understand the language, thus started to negotiate. That didn't last long as Louise, in the heat of the moment pointed her wand at the boy and to everyone's horror Tiffania.

*BOOM*

The explosion wasn't anything grand like usual, so she really was thinking on everyone's best interests. It did its job as the boy and Tiffania got separated, though the latter fainted in the confusion.

"Che, I missed", Louise muttered and ran to tend to Tiffania.

Saito on the other hand unsheathe Derfflinger and lunged towards the boy, releasing a volley of stab, swipes and slashes. To everyone's utter surprise, the boy seemed to effortlessly parry every single attack with his lone knife. He ducked under a diagonal slash and kicked Saito in the torso, sending him flying several feet away. Without a word everyone started targeting the boy. Kirche let out a fireball, which he dodged with ease. However, hitting him wasn't the point. The spot he landed was the target of a shower of Tabitha's ice lances. He sidestepped every single one, almost. The last lance pierced his stump. He removed the lance and didn't even give the wound a second glance. The way it was bleeding, he'd pass out very soon.

"Keep your distance and use long ranged attacks", Colbert screamed orders as if he had never quit the military. "He's overconfident and underestimating us. Take the bait and let him pass out from blood loss"

He conjured his trademark flame snake and sent it homing at the boy. The boy in turn faced the flaming reptile as if he was mocking the insignificance of the attack. At the last second, he rolled to the right and as if sensing what Colbert said, plunged his bleeding stump in the flame snake. The smell of burning flesh filled the holy courtyard with the people inside the Cathedral being none the wiser. Colbert didn't have time to think of any witty remark as the boy started closing in on him. He conjured another flame snake to surround his body and started preparing for an area wide spell. His spell died in his mouth as the boy kicked him through his own defense. He concluded that the boy had absolutely no fear against fire, that and his kicks can break ribs.

The boy, relentless in his attack, plunged the strange knife in his chest. Coughing blood, Colbert saw dark spots in his vision and felt completely useless. His skills had gotten rusty and he had no one to blame but himself. He saw blue in his peripheral and concluded it to be Tabitha. She must have closed the distance to avoid friendly fire, smart girl he thought. He wasn't useless just yet, he could buy her time at least.

Whatever Colbert was about to do was ignored by the boy who released the knife, swiped his staff and threw it at Tabitha. The tip of the staff hit her square on the neck and Colbert was suddenly very relieved that his lung was occupying the knife.

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. The boy wasn't overconfident or underestimating them at all. He used the first flame snake to cauterize his wound and calculate the intensity of the flame, he went after the commander first to leave the group in disarray, furthermore he deliberately left his back open to lure someone who actually managed to hit him and used a staff of all things to hit her dead center in the neck. She won't be able to cast spells even if she wanted to. He was giving them a false sense of security from the start and it seems that he's figured out that the cats out of the bag, what with a full condescending smirk and an amused red eye plastered on his previously emotionless face.

His eye….

It seemed to convey a message, regardless of the language barrier. That eerily glowing red eye with three comma like shapes spinning lazily as if it was urging him to confess his deepest, darkest secrets. It was a spine chilling experience that he's gotten several times at the end of someone's blade, or a wand, but never from a gaze. That eye...

Telling him to give up.

"…ake up…"

That eye….

"Wake up!"

Telling him to sleep.

"I said WAKE UP!"

Colbert woke up with the feeling of a very sharp pain on his left cheek and Queen Henrietta and Montmorency tending his wounds. What honor, to be nursed by the Queen for injuries... He suddenly jolted up and fished out a hidden wand from his robes.

"The boy!" he franticly shouted, and met the raging fist of a very pissed off Agnès. She gave him a very disdainful look as if talking to him was a sin and proceeded to ignore the reprimand of the Queen.

Colbert was godsmacked, but he wasn't going to piss her off anymore. From what he could see, the boy was clutching his left shoulder and eyeing Agnès in bewilderment, as if getting shot was something he could not comprehend. He put two and two together and figured that Agnès had probably shot the boy and saved him, though he wasn't gonna ask her if she did lest he lose an arm or a leg. It seemed his lung was healed but he couldn't say the same for his ribs, well beggars can't be choosers, he was lucky to even be alive and it meant he could be useful again.

Approaching Agnès, Colbert started to convey his information, "He's very clever, could beat even Saito in close quarters and has a deathly accurate…."

"FUCK OFF", Agnès sneered.

Now Colbert was convinced that Agnès didn't save him from the good of her heart.

Saito joined in on the one-sided conversation, "I underestimated him, it won't happen again"

"Pathetic, he's one armed and unarmed", she ridiculed, uncomprehending how they'd be defeated by a boy in his condition.

Saito sweat-dropped and Colbert sighed in exasperation.

Right now, the boy was eyeing everyone. In front of him was Colbert, Agnès, Saito, Montmorency and the Queen, and behind him was Kirche, Tabitha, Guiche, Louise and a very unconscious Tiffania. Unblinking red eye contemplating what his next action would be. True that he was out numbered about ten to one and injured to boot, but they weren't about to take any chances. Boy or not, armed or unarmed, injured or not, it didn't really didn't make much of a difference if he could defeat Saito and incapacitate two high level mages at the same time.

Then Saito asked the question everyone was wondering, "Why isn't Louise blowing him sky high?", and in a small and almost dismissed voiced Tabitha answered, "Can predict…..Very dangerous".

"All right", Agnès voiced in monotone, "Saito and I'll distract him. Mages do your things till then"

A far cry from her usually thunderous voice, everyone understood what that meant. Kirche turned to Tabitha, "Guiche summon your golems. I'll set them on fire"

Colbert faced Montmorency and stated, "I'll control the flames. So Kirche, just concentrate on igniting the golems"

Queen Henrietta met Saito's eyes, "Me and Montmorency will heal Tabitha"

Lastly, Louise stroked Tiffania's hair in a motherly way and stated with a pleasant smile, "…and I'll blow him to kingdom come".

Everyone sweat-dropped. If the boy was confused, he didn't show it. Colbert really hoped that he was.

The initiation of their plan started with Kirche shooting a fireball at the boy. He dodged as expected and was immediately occupied with preventing anymore amputation by Agnès and Saito. Amidst the fighting, Montmorency silently levitated Tabitha towards Queen Henrietta, and Guiche, Kirche, Colbert and Louise were all chanting arias in rapid succession, each one strengthening their own part.

However, things don't always go as planned. The boy noticed all this and grabbed Agnès's wrist mid-stab, disarmed her and threw the sword at…

"Montmorency", Guiche shouted mid-chant. Having to see his fiancé skewered wasn't a pleasant sight. Queen Henrietta quickly made a beeline towards the speared girl, Saito covered for an unarmed Agnès and Kirche canceled her spell to catch Tabitha in a levitation spell of her own.

"She's okay, nothing vital was hit", the newly made Queen shouted out, but the damage was dealt. Their plan was screwed. Saito was barely keeping up with the unbelievably sturdy boy and once he was incapacitated…

*Kyuuuuuu*

It seemed as though there was still hope. Everyone started where they left off whereas Henrietta started to heal both Montmorency and Tabitha. But the boy was unperturbed. In a similar fashion to what he did to Agnès, he twisted Saito's wrist, disarmed him and jumped to get ahold of Derfflinger. In a desperate or foolish move to regain his weapon, Saito jumped. His hands however, met empty air as the boy grabbed the sword, rotated in midair, stabbed the sword on the ground and used his momentum to deliver a devastating kick to what would have most definitely been Saito's neck if he hadn't jumped. Saito went flying but was caught midflight by Agnès. He coughed blood, and figured that his ribs had punctured his lungs, on the bright side, it was better than a broken neck.

The boy brandished the stolen weapon in a reverse grip whereas Henrietta was having a very, very bad day, what with healing three very incapacitated people that she imagine herself to call friends on a good day. To add insult to injury, the boy was making a mad dash towards her and in proxy, Agnès. She saw that the title 'Queen of Tristain' meant nothing to him, and in his eye, she was nothing but a mere healer. For the first time in her life, she felt the fear that her strong and confident guard, Agnès was going to be defeated, very, very badly.

"Kyuuuuuu"

A blue shape crashed before Agnès, startling everyone including the boy. Sylphid stretched her wings and looked affectionately at the crumbled form of her master. Tabitha uttered only one word.

"Eat"

Sylphid actually roared out loud, a far cry from the usual affectionate and playful 'Kyu'. It was as if she had shed her pretense of being Sylphid and transformed into a menacing, frightful and very, very dangerous dragon. She started circling the boy as if sizing up her prey, in turn the boy reciprocated the act. This, in all honest opinion looked like a hero trying to slay a terrorizing dragon, which was too far from the truth to be given any attention.

She sprang, he charged, and dodged, and leapt, and twisted, and sidestepped, and did everything inhumanly possible to give the mages in the vicinity another reason to think twice about cancelling their spells. Sylphid gave up on eating him alive and proceeded to try and kill him.

Agnès however, noticed something different about this battle. The boy had had multiple openings to attack the dragon, which were left untouched. There had to be an explanation to this, but she opted it to be a lost cause and started to reload her gun. The boy was caught off guard with her gun once, there was a chance it would happen again and she'd be damned if she didn't make the shot count.

"Now!", Colbert, Kirche and Guiche shouted out at once.

Guiche flicked his rose wand several times, eliciting all the petals to fall off. Among them several combined to form four groups which conjured a green armored golem each as they made contact with the ground. The four golems were enveloped in flames with a flick of Kirche's wand turning them crimson. Finally, Colbert stabilized the flames to turn the golems into seven foot pitch black flaming murder machines. Unlike usual, these armors were not hollow, and they were not made of bronze and they most definitely were not harmless. It was as if they were the materialization of Saito, Tabitha and Montmorency's pain, as well as Colbert, Kirche and Guiche's rage.

Sylphid obeyed the order of the second authoritative figure of her life, which is her instincts and flew away. The massive armors charged as if their hulking mass didn't do much to burden their speed and attacked. The boy was dodging none the less. He didn't looked perturbed at all. Side-stepping the flaming constructs, he dashed towards the one who initiated the spell.

"Guiche, look out!", the newly awake Montmorency cried out, a look of utter horror present in her face.

The boy however, was ruthless. The golems were fast but the boy was faster. Agnès flashed a devilish smirk, a bullet was even faster.

*Bang*

To her utter jaw-dropping horror, it missed. She quickly composed herself. She didn't miss. No.

"He fucking dodged it" she exclaimed, her face contorting in disbelief.

As if to accentuate her thoughts, the boy turned around and smirked, and then his eyes widened. That smirk soon turned to utter disbelieving horror as a sword protruded out his chest. He turned around to meet blonde hair and blue eyes.

Guiche had done it. It was the most fearful experience of his life but he persevered. He felt pride at paying back the very, very scary boy for what he put his fiancé through, but when a pair of mismatched eyes searched for its assailant, he had a frightful feeling that those eyes could kill. He released his sword and hightailed it out of there. When he thought he was far enough, he turned back to see the boy hadn't moved an inch. He looked around to see that everyone was shocked, as if they expected him to be the last person they thought to actually land a decisive hit on the boy. He suddenly felt very, very insecure at the wake of their gazes.

"Guiche, now's our chance! Move the golems", Kirche shouted, breaking everyone out of their reverie, including the boy unfortunately.

He pulled the sword out like it was nothing and threw it back at Guiche, as if returning the weapon. It was however blocked by Sylphid.

"I'm ready", Louise screamed, which by this pointed was music to everyone's ears.

"Ok, surround him", Colbert shouted.

"Right", everyone chorused.

The boy really did seem confused now. But that didn't last long as he moved around the golems in his usual speed. The stab wound inflicted by Guiche being little more than an annoyance.

A hail of ice lances went homing on him. He dodged every single one. However, hitting him wasn't the point. The place where he landed was the target of all four golems and a very, very big explosion. The boy, as if sensing the discomfort in the air prepared to leap away and make all the mage's efforts go to waste again when a very annoying voice, which everyone had come to know and hate graced the battlefield.

"Huh? You're not partner"

The boy, startled by the voice, instinctually slashed through empty air.

"Are you my new wielder? Did Saito die?"

He soon realized that the voice was coming from the sword, but that few seconds was all the golems needed. They surrounded him and locked arms to make a fire barrier.

"Now! Louise", everyone shouted in sync.

"EXPLOSION!"

***BOOOM***

The resounding explosion shook the very walls of the Cathedral. Sylphid quickly shielded the injured by extending her wings. Guiche summoned bronze walls to shield everyone else from the debris.

Agnès fell on her back as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"To think a single boy could do this", she chuckled, suddenly looking several years younger. "To think a talking sword saved us all. Never thought that I'd actually welcome that annoying voice for once"

Saito chuckled as well, "So much about one armed and unarmed"

The glare from Agnès killed the good mood.

Tabitha used a wind spell to clear the field of all the dust. There was a huge crater at the place where the boy was. At the middle of the crater was a very, very angry, pissed off, irritated, annoyed, fuming and shouting sword. Everyone tuned out the cussing of the sword and started to celebrate in joy. Their nightmare was finally over.

"You were so brave, Guiche", Kirche purred and proceeded to stuff said boy's face against her breasts much to another blonde's annoyance.

Louise went to help Saito up and Agnès was supporting a clearly spent Queen.

Tabitha was awfully quite as usual until she spoke, "Up"

Everyone looked up. There was something in the air, something black and falling at a rapid pace.

"What is it?", Kirche questioned.

No one had an answer.

The black unknown object landed near the crater and Colbert, exasperated by the intense glare of Agnès volunteered to check it out.

"Hey guys", Saito called, "Where is Tiffa?"

"Huh? I left her right there", Louise pointed under a tree.

Everyone started to look for Tiffania with no luck. It was as if she had disappeared without a trace. Tabitha even looked for her on Sylphid but she was nowhere in sight. Abruptly another dragon graced the utterly destroyed courtyard.

"What the hell happened here?", Julio exclaimed from his dragon, his eyes widening at the sight of the clearly destroyed courtyard.

The pristine courtyard was nothing like it was before. Burnt grass marred the previously vibrant green lawn with a gigantic crater in the middle, coupled with giant charcoaled footprints and several crystalline weapons sprawled around everywhere, the place looked like a war-zone.

Saito gave a sheepish smile while rubbing the back of his head, "Well, It's a long story".

"Saito, what are you doing here?", Julio questioned in bewilderment.

"I saw you running off with Tiffania right after I came to see what all the ruckus was about"

All eyes landed on Julio.

"I tried to call out for you but you didn't stop", He said with a raised eyebrow, confused to why everyone was looking at him. "You dropped this by the way"

Julio presented a shirt. A half burnt, tattered, bloody shirt with a red and white fan emblazoned on the back. Everyone went still. The shirt no doubt belonged to...

"Hey guys", Colbert broke the tension. "That black thing back there..."

"...it's a log"


	2. In Pursuit

**AN: I've edited the first chapter a bit, so check it out if you don't know.**

_He was dreaming, then he woke up._

_He couldn't remember much of anything. What little he could remember was so vague that he couldn't discern anything, not even his name. However, the very first second he opened his unnatural eyes, he knew right then and there that he didn't belong here, wherever here was. To make matters worse, he was hearing voices in his head. He didn't know why, but the voices kept telling him that he should be dead. If so, then was he insane? Or was he in heaven? _

_No_

_He could tell that he didn't belong there either. It was a nagging feeling in his chest and the unknown voices told him that he should be in hell. But why? What atrocities would warrant banishment from heaven? _

_Is it because he murdered his own master? _

_Is it because he tried to kill his own kin? _

_Or is it for playing god? _

_Why?_

_Why did he follow the masked man?_

_Because he felt pain and despair, and he wanted others to feel the same. Feel his pain._

_So, he hunted. He killed. He gave despair. He gave pain. Lots and lots of pain to someone with blond hair and blue eyes._

_Yet, the blond took all the pain, and smiled. He said that he'd change the system in his own way. That he'd endure all the pain and do the impossible. And he'd never stop till his words become reality. Because it was his ninja way._

_Somehow the words reassured him, but it didn't clarify anything. How did he end up here? The strange language, the strange customs. It was like nothing he's ever seen before. Where was he? Why was there two moons? Did he create the second moon? Why in the world did he just have that thought? Who is the woman to whom he feels a connection to? Why does her words hold command over him? Was she someone who knew who he was? Who was he?_

_He shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking about this now. Right now, he had a mission. Even faded memories, broken realities and absurd heavenly creations fell short compared to his mission. Something he absolutely had to do. He didn't know why the mission was so important but he just knew that he'd have to do it no matter what._

_So he affirmed the information of his past to be inconsequential compared to his mission, which will never be missed by him. But in truth he missed them, a lot. He missed his past, his individuality, his identity. But strangely so, the one thing he missed the most was pain._

_He felt nothing._

* * *

><p>Tiffania woke up to the sight of a high ceiling, the scent of a very potent ointment and a very distinct sound of scolding. She got up to see that she was in a very cozy room with a fireplace and some chairs, which were occupied by two other occupants. A middle-aged non-descriptive woman was scolding a very handsome boy on how he was so reckless and how he got injured all the time, while steadily covering his torso in bandages. He in turn, was not paying attention to anything she was saying and ferociously turning the pages of a book as if searching something. It looked like a very homely sight.<p>

Tiffania's hands shot up to her ear. They were uncovered, yet the other inhabitants of the room were not paying any heed to them. Her sudden inspection alerted the only male in the room and when their eyes met, she knew at that moment that 'a' boy was actually 'the' boy. There was an awkward silence which was only broken by the woman's wordy scolding, who at this point looked as if the end of the world wouldn't warrant her attention.

Abruptly, the boy pointed at his bare chest and spoke one word in her own language, "Release"

She thought what he meant by release and quickly understood that he was unwillingly made her familiar and he wanted out. Thus, she promptly started to apologize profusely. The boy only looked annoyed by the look of it. He got up and eyed the woman, who locked gazes with him and mechanically left the room. When the door shut close, he disappeared and reappeared behind her in a blink of an eye.

Tiffania didn't have time to utter a single word before the boy twisted her arm behind her back, again, and pinned her on the floor.

"Release", he commanded this time, pushing every bit annoyance out his emotionless face.

Tiffania felt his warm breath at the nape of her neck. It made her giggle involuntary and she blushed in embarrassment. The boy was even more annoyed. It was as if he's done the same thing several times and each one garnered a very, very different reaction to what she gave. Their one-sided scuffle promptly ended when it suddenly started to rain, which for some strange reason annoyed the boy even more. Before she knew it, he had disappeared and reappeared by a wardrobe. She could have sworn she heard an "Hn". Thoughtlessly, he fished out a bundle of clothes and threw them at her.

"Wear", he commanded, and started to put on a white, long sleeved shirt.

She was hesitant at first, but quickly obeyed before she could meet his penetrating eyes. He didn't even have the decency to turn away, nor did he show any interest in the least.

Tiffania strangely felt disappointed. The clothes she got consisted of plain baggy pants which were quite conveniently cut right before her shins and a white shirt similar to the boy's. When she was finished, she started to fold her priest robes, which was so nonchalantly thrown into the fireplace by the boy that she actually felt pity for them. He threw a hooded black cloak on her and himself before dragging her by the hand.

She thought on how she got into this situation, and mentally kicked herself for trying to summon a familiar. She clearly wasn't ready. Well, as she often told the children at her orphanage, 'there's no use crying over spilt milk', she could at least try to get along with him.

"Quite", he ordered and she audibly squeaked at his intense mismatched gaze.

Things weren't going well for her.

* * *

><p>Things weren't going well at all. Aside from explaining the origins of the butchered courtyard, the ragtag group of survivors had to explain where one of the priestess had suddenly disappeared to. Suffice to say no one was having a good day. The Pope however, did not fret about his demolished lawn. He instead opted to help the group and even appeased all the bitching Bishops. Everyone could see how he became the Pope so young.<p>

Saito on the other hand, dismayed by the kidnaping of Tiffania, voiced out his irritation, "Why are we wasting time here when Tiffania is out there?"

"Silence", the Pope commanded, which was a far cry from his usual soothing tone. "We need to assess the situation and come to speed with what we know about this mysterious boy"

He calmed down and continued in his usual tone, "There's a war brewing in the horizon. Rest assured, I've sent all the Dragon Knights I could spare to look for her. If what you said is true, then this boy warranted the ire of multiple line to square mages, an elite Musketeer guard, a void mage and the Gandálfr, yet he managed to escape. Charging in reckless abandon isn't going to help anyone"

"This boy", he questioned, "What do we know about him thus far?"

Everyone shivered at the reminder of the whole shebang that happened past hour. With everyone in a state of disarray, Agnès took control of the situation. "He is inhumanly agile, very strong for his build, extremely skilled in close quarters, is able to wield either sword or knife with great dexterity and is an excellent marksman".

"You don't suppose we have ourselves another Gandálfr, do we?" one of the bishops questioned.

"No", Agnès supplied, "Half of the time he was unarmed"

"The runes appeared on his chest, so that makes him Lífþrasir, the heart of god. The Lífþrasir is said to be able to supply its master with extra magical power in return of his/her life force. The runes aren't giving him any support", The Pope added. "Anything else anyone has to add?"

"Juggernaut", Tabitha said in monotone.

As if remembering a long forgotten dream, Colbert exclaimed, "He also has an extremely high pain tolerance. One of Tabitha's ice lances actually hit his arm, though now that I think about it, it looked as if he simply misjudge the length of his stump. The arm looked freshly severed as well…"

"Wait", one of the bishops shouted out in bewilderment, "You're telling that this boy almost killed all of you with a single working arm?"

Everyone paled.

"He was actually severely injured even before the battle", Colbert added, much to everyone's abject horror. He continued as if the room wasn't filled with dread already, "He used my flame snake to actually cauterize his wound"

Agnès, who wasn't privy to this info blanched, "Impossible, he should have passed out from the pain".

"In case you didn't notice, he shrugged off a stab wound like it was nothing", Kirche pointed out in annoyance. "Not to mention Louise's explosion"

"You don't think he's an elf, do you?", one of the Bishops questioned. "Or even the fabled creature of the night"

"That is irrelevant now", Queen Henrietta declared, "We need to know what his goals are". She turned to Saito, "Saito, he spoke your language, right? What did he say?"

A Dragon Knight abruptly entered the room.

"Captain, what have you found?", the Pope questioned.

The Knight bowed automatically, "His Holiness, we've heard reports of two suspicious individuals heading east bound on foot. They were heavily cloaked, but resident locals have identified one to be a… well…"

"Speak Captain", the Pope pushed, "Time is of the essence"

"Apologies, His Holiness", the Knight hastily apologized. "The resident locals have identified one of the individuals to be a raven haired, devilishly handsome youth with moon eyes"

"That's him", Guiche shouted out, "He had the moon eyes"

"Did you apprehend them?", Agnès questioned.

"We've sent a Platoon of soldiers to halt them…", the Knight stumbled in his words.

"…They have yet to return"

Silence enveloped the room, silence which was ultimately broken by the Queen.

"Saito", she inquired, "What did he say?"

All eyes landed on the Gandálfr. He gave a firm nod and quoted, "Release the seal"

"And what is this seal?" the bishops exclaimed in confusion.

"I believe he meant to get rid of the familiar runes on his chest", Saito cleared, and then his eyes widened in unadulterated horror, along with everyone else's.

Even the ever calm Pope lost his tranquility. He quickly composed himself and, before chaos can ensue, shouted in a commanding voice to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone calm down. The fact that he's keeping Miss Tiffania alive is testament to the extent of his knowledge on the familiar contract ritual. Furthermore, he does not have knowledge of our language".

"Yes, but for how long?", Kirche asked to herself but everyone got the message.

"Captain!", the Pope called. The Knight stood on attention. "How many Dragon Knights can you spare?"

"Three, his Holiness. Three is all we can spare with Gallia getting ever bolder at the borders"

The Pope furrowed his brows in displeasure, "We'll have to make do with three".

He gestured the Knight to lead the way. Everyone minus the bishops, the Pope and the Queen made to leave.

"Agnès, go and help retrieve Tiffania", Queen Henrietta ordered. Agnès rejected, but Henrietta raised her hand to stop her, "I'll be fine in His Holiness's company. Go and retrieve Miss Tiffania"

"I assure you, the Queen will be safe", the Pope reassured. Reluctantly, Agnès followed.

"Julio", the Pope called, "I need a moment"

The Vindálfr followed his master to a secluded room. When they were sure that no one would be eavesdropping, the Pope relaxed his shoulders.

"This isn't what I expected"

"Are you regretting letting them escape?", Julio questioned.

"Perhaps I've miscalculated. No matter, go and help retrieve the priestess. However, make it sure that her familiar does not die. His skills will be greatly needed in the upcoming war"

"As you command, Master", Julio replied with no hesitation, though he really doubted the mysterious boy needed any help after all he's seen. "What of the Gandálfr?"

"The Queen is in my care. If I can somehow pin the blame on Joseph, I can no doubt gull her into taking part in this war. The Gandálfr and his master will no doubt follow", the Pope said with certainty, but his face showed a look of a man who was doing this out of necessity.

"As you wish. I shall take my leave now", Julio bowed and left the room.

Immediately, the Pope started to prepare his next plan of action. He would have to think extra on the unpredictable piece that had landed itself on his board.

Tiffania didn't know why but the boy was giving a face palm. A face palm that epically failed to show exasperation, rather it showed anger, rage and frustration. The boy seemed to have failed in whatever he was trying to do, but she seriously doubted anything would come of shouting "kai" or biting his thumb and slamming his hand on the ground. The boy cooled his expression and proceeded to drag her by the hand through the bustling streets. The key word being drag, she felt literally dragged as she couldn't keep up with his pace and he looked like he had absolutely no thoughts of slowing down.

She was impressed with his speed, his stealth and his pace of integration. In such a small amount of time, he'd gone from one word commands to full sentences. She didn't know why he was hiding from the guards but she didn't question about it. Nor did she minded as a hood was all that stood between her life and death. She could wipe the memories of a few people, but there was no way she could wipe the memories of an entire city. She could hope that the people could be complacent to reason, but she didn't want to take the risk. After all, prevention is better than cure.

Abruptly, the boy gripped her arm and readied himself for something. A slight twitch of his brows on his emotionless face was all the evidence Tiffania needed to conclude that he was irritated.

"What's wrong?", she asked, unable to fathom why he was all worked up.

Her answer came in a form of an unforeseen vertigo that almost made her empty the contents of her stomach. She took large gulps of air to stop the pressure in her chest. The boy was considerate enough to let her take a breather. When she finally recovered from her episode of drowning in air, she realized that somehow the surrounding environment wasn't the same place she remembered standing a few seconds ago. It was as if she disappeared and reappeared in a different street.

"Was it magic", she thought. Whatever it was, it was amazing, minus the vertigo. She could see why the boy liked disappearing and reappearing in some place totally new. Though he didn't look perturbed in the slightest.

Of course, the boy didn't even break a sweat, it was his magic after all. He wasn't giving her a death grip either, so she assumed that whatever threat the boy sensed was gone.

Yet, the roars of several dragons graced the lively streets. The people however, were going about their business as if it was a daily occurrence. Unaware of the ensuing chaos and destruction. Unprepared for the inevitable revelation.

Agnès's hunch was right. The dragon's nose was getting way too confused with the boy's scent being everywhere. So she narrowed down all the directions and chose the one the dragons were most reluctant to follow. The direction where a very potent scent of ointment was. The direction where the boy was.

She figured that he'd tried to mask his scent, or just tried to ease his wounds. Whatever it may be, she couldn't fathom how a scent would suddenly disappear and reappeared in a different direction all together. Nor can she find it to make any sense but using normal sense against the boy had proved to be a huge mistake and she wasn't someone who'd make the same mistake twice.

Among the two cloaked figures, the Moon-eyed boy raised his hood and faced them. Faced five dragons, three Dragon Knights, one Dragon Knight/Priest, four line to square class Mages, one void mage and her familiar, and a Musketeer guard. Yet, he had the audacity to look slightly annoyed.

Agnès frowned, and she was certain that the thought crossed everyone's mind. Of course he would. He had the advantage here. The streets was full of unsuspecting commoners. It was as if the whole area was full of hostages. Hostages he can no doubt use as a meat shield. Hostages who will no doubt get injured in the crossfire. Even if they do warn them to flee, she knew how these kind of crowds worked. Their curiosity would definitely kill them.

While Agnès was furiously thinking on how to minimize the casualties, the boy did something no one ever expected from him.

He removed the second cloaked figure's hood, which was no doubt Tiffania, and shouted.

"ELF"

As if realizing the reason behind five dragons hovering above the street, the people ran away as fast as they could. They weren't gonna let curiosity lead them to the stuff of their nightmares. Even the Dragon Knights shivered at the sight of the elongated ears, but they were professionals. They knew that the presumed elf was actually a priestess and the object of their wrath was the one beside her. The Moon Eyes.

That being said, the streets were cleared in an instant. Agnès could see that Tiffania, who look scared out of her mind, was the only one present.

Did the boy escape in the confusion? If so, then why leave Tiffania?

She gestured to land, and everyone minus the Dragon Knights, the Priest, Tabitha and Louise got off. The Priest positioned his dragon in front of the others, whereas Louise joined Tabitha in Sylphid as they hovered above them. Her void magic and Tabitha's wind magic was better cast from afar. The boy was nowhere in sight.

Was it a trap?

The Dragons circled Tiffania from above, waiting for anything to happen. Their riders preparing to spring at a moment's notice.

Why did he clear the streets?

A thought that he was trying to avoid unnecessary casualties crossed Agnès's mind, but she ruthlessly squashed it down. She had no time for nonsense.

Abruptly, a giant fireball went flying towards one of the Knights. The Knight in turn, dodged the giant flaming projectile with ease but he didn't have time to search for his attacker as a distinct sound of birds chirping filled the sky. An intense blue blur went honing on the Knight from one of the rooftops. It hit the dragon's midsection which made the dragon roar in pain.

The blue light died down and revealed itself to be the boy, in all his glorious show of how he can now wield lightning and conjure gigantic fireballs. Yet another reason for Agnès to hate him and the others to fear him.

"He's using wand-less magic", Kirche stated out in disbelief while everyone else contemplated on how they could stop the miracle boy.

Colbert on the other hand was godsmacked yet again. The boy had used a triangle class fire magic, which was unbelievable itself without a wand but to wield lightning. He'd seen old and experienced square class wind mages have trouble with conjuring lightning, but the boy was brandishing it as if it was second nature to him.

"Intercept Tiffania", Agnès shouted out while running towards the said confused girl, Saito and Kirche right behind her.

The boy however didn't look agitated in the least. He stepped on the barely hovering dragon's head and used the momentum to leap towards another Knight. The Knight maneuvered his dragon to escape the grasp of the boy but fell short as a single line of glowing blue lightning clipped off his dragon's wing. He looked behind him to find the line of lightning emerging from the boy's lone elongated arm. He looked past the arm to find the boy emotionless, as if death didn't elicit anything from him.

The Knight however, was lucky enough to have mages to stop his descent to demise. A simple levitation spell and he was magically floating towards the ground. He could see that his friend and his unfortunate dragon also had the mages courtesy, the boy fortunately didn't. Though it was doubtful that he needed any, what with his expression of indifference.

The Knight was proved right as the rapidly descending boy fisted his hand, revealing a thin wire which ended at the levitated dragon's tail. Using the momentum of his descent, he sling shot towards the last Dragon Knight remaining.

Agnès had seen many battles, faced many enemies wielding various weapons. From a wand sword to a simple longsword, she'd seen people use them enough to know how much build was required to wield the respective blades. She herself wielded a rapier due to her average stature and had seen people twice her size having difficulties handling those unnecessarily gigantic swords known as the great sword.

So it was to her absolute disbelief that she had to find the boy pulling out a claymore of all things, out of his sleeves and using the huge two handed weapon to decapitate the head of the last circling dragon. But he didn't stop there. Landing nimbly on the ground, he threw the sword, which was almost twice his size at the Priest's dragon.

A powerful wind spell by Tabitha altered the trajectory of the pseudo projectile and saved Azzurro from being skewered. Fortunately, the main objective was accomplished. Tiffania was on Sylphid, well out of the range of the boy. Unfortunately, the price was two incapacitated dragons and a very headless one. It seemed as though he was only targeting the dragons. No one knew why, but Sylphid and Azzurro were staying as far as they could be from the dubious Dragonslayer.

***Boom***

An explosion, which everyone knew the origin of, erupted from where the boy stood. The boy in turn wasn't there, but somewhere else. He was brandishing a rapier and making a mad dash towards Sylphid.

Saito intercepted him while the others helped the Dragon Knights, two of which seemed to have been electrocuted. Drawing Derfflinger, he attempted to stop the boy but all his efforts were mercilessly stopped. A thrust at Derfflinger's mouth piece, a kick to the elbow and a flick of a sword later, Saito was yet again disarmed. It was then that he felt despair. Even with the powers of the Gandálfr, he couldn't do a thing and he could never hope to win without it. The boy looked emotionless, which was all the proof Saito needed to know that he didn't even take the fight seriously. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to come when he was suddenly jolted by a very pissed off voice.

"Saito, use this", Agnès shouted out and threw something towards his feet.

Saito snatched the thing without question and was instantaneously immersed in a fever of intense power. This surge of strength was no doubt his Gandálfr powers but the information he got about the weapon felt strange for some reason. It was as if he could do a thousand more things with the weapon than he ever could with Derfflinger. Thousands of fighting styles, thousands of ways to kill, maim or incapacitate, but he didn't know why his runes chose the one where he had to anticipate the boy's movements while staring at his legs. None the less, he held the weapon in a reverse grip and put name to blade.

A Kunai.


	3. First Path

**AN: In honor of me completing Dark Souls 2 in 36 hours while dying only 129 times, I bring to you, Moon Eyes. Did anyone else notice that Naruto vs Sasuke turned out to be quite similar to Naruto vs Garra?**

* * *

><p><em>This body of his was strange. He didn't remember it to be such but what can he truly tell when his memories was so broken. This body of his felt like it was holding him. It was a reminder that he didn't belong here. It was a reminder that he wasn't free. <em>

_Different were the things he'd encountered so far. His body felt strange for starters. He had power, but it felt buried. It felt as if he was trapped. He had the tools, yet he felt like he was the tool. It felt unreal, making him doubt his existence again and again. However, this body of his also reminded him of one thing, always. That he was not alone. Not alone in this unfamiliar land. He had her with him. She was the connection that anchored him to his feet. That sublime connection that he both loved and hated._

_Loved because it made him feel like he had a link with something. Hated because he didn't know the reason for that very link. Why did he have this connection with the woman? Why?_

_The next thing he noticed was that people here couldn't mold chakra and the ones with chakra in their body usually manipulated their affinity using a stick. He knew he was well past playing god but that didn't make him feel any less like a god among the men there. Was he a god? _

_Among the many mysteries of this new land, he noticed a lot of key difference that made him doubt his broken memories many, many times. For one thing, people weren't trying to kill him. There was no one hunting him down, something that seemed to have happened a lot, for his eyes no less. He also noticed a kind of familiarity with hunting, though his hunt felt more like a necessity. It was as if he had hunted a lot in his past life, and that was saying something if he cannot even remember his own name. _

_The last person he's hunted was the same blond who'd filled him with so much hope. He remembered beating the blond to an inch of his life. He remembered getting beaten by the blond to an inch of his life. He remembered reconciling with the blond. _

_Then something happened. He did something and a lot of people were saved, but at what cost?_

_He shook his head for the third time now. He had a mission he must complete and failure was not an option, though he was happy for the circumstance he was currently in. _

_He was hunting again. He was feeling something other than nothingness. Feeling the adrenaline rushing through his hollow body. He was hunting for someone with blond hair and blue eyes, again. He believed it to be something that would definitely jolt his memories and make him remember something, anything. He smiled in the revelation that his mission coincided with his desires, something he noticed rarely happened. He shall enjoy this hunt, as it would prove his existence. Prove if his existence is reality ,or all this phantom pain is just an illusion. _

_Let the hunt begin._

* * *

><p>Saito was having a hard time believing that he was actually keeping up with the unbelievably sturdy boy. Sure the runes were making him use every limb he could spare but he didn't really think it would help him out this much. The pristine, white and no doubt stolen shirt of the boy was turning red by the minute and it looked like it was affecting him albeit lightly. Saito guessed he could thank Guiche for that. Nevertheless, whatever advantage he could take was an advantage he would gladly accept.<p>

"You're branded with a similar seal and you don't belong here as well. Why choose to follow that little girl?", the boy asked in Japanese, so nonchalantly as if they were drinking tea rather than crossing blades.

Saito didn't harbor any illusion of beating the guy. Sure the boy was getting weaker in his assault, but his guard still stood strong. Saito was really starting to think that the only reason he was still standing was because the boy was interested in gaining knowledge. He had to buy time in order for the others to think of a plan. He dodged a vertical slash and parried a comeback with the kunai, all while steadily backing away from the boy.

"It's because I care for her", Saito replied in Japanese as well, doing everything he can to find an opening.

"So you've become a pawn for the little girl, I know what the purpose of the seal is for"

"NO", Saito shouted out in rage. "It's because she's dear to me, something I doubt you'd ever understand"

The boy narrowed his eyes and Saito suddenly remembered what he was doing.

"Why are you after Tiffa?", he questioned, hoping that his little outburst didn't do anything to disinterest the boy. Fortunately, he still was.

"I simply wish to have this cursed seal removed. Now, tell me how", the boy all but demanded.

Saito didn't know how the boy came to the conclusion that the runes were cursed but he was at the end of the line now and his next answer would determine the way the battle was going to turn out. The lack of reply was making the superstitious boy more aggressive whereas Saito's mind was having a rapid fire self-interrogation on what would be the best answer. Among the several question that ran through his head, one was more prominent. What in the world are the others doing?

He didn't find his answer but he did finally find an opening. He threw the kunai at the boy's feet as a distraction, grabbed the handle of the rapier, and bent the boy's elbow in to plunge the blade into the boy's chest. The boy coughed blood and fell back.

"It's true that at first it was tough, but now I've come to love this place and it's people and I'm not going to back down from anyone if the people I care for are threatened", Saito said with firm determination. "I don't follow her because of some rune or magic. I follow her because she's dear to me"

The boy just stared at him in silence. Saito picked up the discarded kunai and placed it before the boy's neck. "This is it. Its over"

The boy closed his eyes and slowly moved his arm to grab Saito's hand holding the kunai, "I couldn't care less about that"

Saito blinked, and the world around him changed. The boy disappeared, the rapier disappeared, his left hand gripping the kunai disappeared somewhere behind him. He turned to see that the kunai was pointing at the nape of his own neck in a very awkward angle, the boy's hand gripping his hand to lock it in place.

"Just tell me how to get this seal off", the boy continued, however Saito's mind was elsewhere. What had happened? He was sure he had stabbed the boy. He was sure he was winning. He was sure that the white shirt that the boy donned was stained crimson.

Yet, none of these things looked to have happened. Saito realized that he was duped even before he picked the kunai and that the boy was showing him an illusion from the start. Rather, the boy looked livelier than before. He was pale then, but now it looked as if he was slowly gaining color, as if he was rejuvenating, as if the worst was yet to be seen.

Saito also noticed another vital thing but couldn't in any way fathom how he couldn't access his Gandálfr abilities, despite possessing a weapon. Further inspections revealed the white light on his runes to be slowly fading away. It seemed farfetched, but it looked as if the boy was absorbing the power granted by the runes. Now, if this theory was true, the boy was a legit vampire, that and the rune's power was the only thing keeping him alive.

The sound of a gun shot rang out and Saito finally pulled free from the dodging boy's grasp. He quickly hit the ground when a few more shots went off. Then he felt himself being dragged right towards Kirche with a levitation spell. Suffice to say he had a soft landing. He turned to find the boy encased in what looked like an astral bone cage, well protected from the onslaught of every flintlock pistol Agnès could carry.

"EXPLOSION!"

***BOOM***** **

Another giant explosion happened where the boy stood, lifting dust everywhere. Louise hoped for that to be the last of it. She'd made three colossal explosions, all in a single day, without rest. So she felt spent more that she'd ever felt before. Nonetheless, she was a noble and a Vallière no less. She had to keep up the rule of steel no matter what. She was relieved to see Saito safe but had half a mind to blow him too for landing none too gently on Kirche, but she held her wand. It wouldn't be prudent to discipline him in the heat of battle. Furthermore, the opponent was far too dangerous for her to keep him off her sights.

Excruciatingly slowly, the dust clear off and revealed someone or rather something. The purple monstrosity was easily around 30 feet tall, with multiple arms holding multiple weapons, an ominous dark aura covering it and a smile that gave her the chills. There was in no way for that menacing giant to be a golem. It looked pure evil, and in the middle of it all, was the boy, unperturbed, unruffled and unmoving.

Louise was just updating her list of worst nightmares, the shaking coming from the figure beside her said that Tiffania was on the same page. Surprisingly, the colossal goliath suddenly glowed crimson and started disintegrating much to everyone's relief. She didn't know how the boy managed to summon something so evil but she wasn't going to complain on its departure. She was getting ready for another round with the boy, who by this point was slowly making his way up her list of worst nightmares in a frightening rate. Her spell in her mouth, she got ready to let it fly as soon as the figure inside the giant made his appearance known when Tiffania, quite uncharacteristically started to poke her.

"Not now Tiffania", she disregarded while never straying eyes from the disintegrating giant. Tiffania in turn started to pull her arm instead but stopped after a few tugs. Louise didn't know what was wrong with her but it could wait. Right now the nightmarish boy had to have her undivided attention, because if she was going to beat this boy, then she'd need to forget about anything else. Even if Tiffania pulls her arm like a madman, even if Saito's using that Germanian bully's disgusting mounds as a cushion. Even if a very confused Tabitha suddenly appeared in place of the boy.

Wait, if Tabitha was down there, then who in the world was behind her? A cold and callused hand gripped her neck. She turned to find raven hair and moon eyes. The boy looked very handsome up close she realized, but it was hard to blush when the blood flow to your cheeks were blocked.

* * *

><p>Saito saw Tabitha just in time to stop Agnès from putting a bullet through her head, yet he wasn't prepared to face the present situation. The boy had poor Tiffa pinned with a single foot whereas Louise was dangling by her neck. Sylphid was doing absolutely nothing but hovering in midair, it was as if she was trapped in an illusion.<p>

"This one's not an illusion", the boy stated in monotone, yet it sounded like the most condescending line ever. "Now, tell me how to remove the seal"

Saito's heart plummeted. The demand was targeted towards him and him alone. Unless the last explosion suddenly made everyone understand Japanese, he was the only one who could give the boy a concrete answer. But he couldn't give an answer. Nor could he keep his mouth shut. Telling him would condemn Tiffa to death whereas staying silent would definitely get Louise killed. Either of the options were unacceptable and for the first time in his life, Saito realized that saving one life could doom another, that saving everyone was an impossible task and that happy endings always did happen in the movies.

"Speak", the boy commanded and suddenly the air thickened with a strange aura, making everyone see gruesome deaths of themselves.

"You need to come with us to have it removed", Saito responded with great disinclination, hoping with everything that the boy would believe the fib.

There was a deathly silence for a few seconds, a few seconds where Saito finished praying to every god he knew of including Brimir for the safe retrieval of both of the captive girls, but in the end it would only remain as it is, wishful thinking.

"You lie", the boy declared and the next thing Saito knew of was the agonizing screams of his master.

"No, stop", he shouted and thought of every way possible to rescue Louise, only there were none. The mages couldn't hit the boy without taking out his hostages, the Dragon Knights were still trying to get up right after their one sided beat down and Agnès was out of bullets. To add insult to injury, Sylphid thought the boy to be Tabitha. There seemed to be no hope, when Julio suddenly pulled out something and threw it at Saito.

"Saito, use this", he shouted with worry seen for the first time in his face.

Saito grabbed the thing, which his runes told him was a SIG Sauer P226. Finally having something to work with, he aimed the pistol at the boy, ready to fill him full of lead. He was also going to save one intended for Julio. The bastard priest had the gun this whole time and didn't do jack with it. But that's besides the point, Julio made a gesture and Sylphid suddenly rolled. Taking the opportunity, Saito fired several shots, all hitting its mark on the boy, until a puff of smoke revealed it to be a log.

"A log?", Colbert exclaimed in frustration while steadily levitating Louise and Tiffania to safety.

That was short lived when the boy seemingly flew out of nowhere to intercept Tiffania. Unfortunately for him, Julio swept her away on Azzurro before he could get hold of her. The dragon flew away in top speed, leaving the boy to disappear in a swirl of leaves and appear on top of Sylphid. She however didn't budge, making the boy glare furiously at the retreating back of Julio. With his lone hand, the boy made several loops and abruptly, Sylphid was covered in the same astral purple tinted armor as the colossal goliath. The armored dragon took flight and went straight after Julio.

Saito was just about to take a breather when a familiar figure came out of the shadows.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for the boy to catch up and Julio really wished he'd planned a little more. Sylphid was faster than Azzurro, and that weird armor was repelling his Vindálfr powers. So there's not a lot he could do other than to lead the boy as far away from the group as possible.<p>

That turned out to be wishful thinking as the boy suddenly appeared on Azzurro, unsheathe Julio's own sword and speared it onto his dragon's back. Julio saw that he was about to have a very horrible crash landing, but not before he met his own ordinary moon eyes with the boy's uncanny one, who simply grabbed Tiffania's arm and disappeared. The next thing he knew was a world of pain and darkness.

When Julio finally awoke, he realized that his left arm was broken, coupled with a few broken ribs and a concussion. He also realized that he didn't wake up naturally, but rather was woken up by non-other than the boy himself, who looked pissed as hell. He looked passed the boy to find Guiche unconscious beside Azzurro. It seems like he'd planned enough. Though he'd much rather prefer the company of Miss Tiffania, he'd have to get the boy away from everyone without him getting his hands on her. And it looked like he had succeeded on fooling the boy. The cloaked blond looked relatively unharmed, yet unconscious. Typical earth mages. Julio reckoned him to pass out even before he swapped places with Tiffania. He also reckoned the boy to have a purpose in doing every little thing he did.

So Julio prepared for the inevitable. It doesn't take a scholar to figure out why the boy woke him up.

* * *

><p>Louise was feeling tired out of her mind, nevertheless she stood awake. She had her rule of steel to follow but more importantly, she wanted to know if Saito was alright. As soon as the levitation spell let her touch the ground, she was instantly embraced by him, which was good and all but her body just felt too heavy to reciprocate. Then she was drowned in a fury of questions involving 'are you hurt?' and 'are you okay?' which was starting to piss her off.<p>

"I thought I almost lost you", Saito stated and Louise's heart soften a bit. She remembered how he freaked out when all her willpower was getting sucked out of her and blushed in embarrassment. Perhaps if she'd trained her body in the rule of steel as well, she wouldn't have cried like a little girl, despite looking the part.

A familiar figure suddenly revealed itself from the shadow of a narrow alley, which turned out to be Tiffania. Saito suddenly perked up and Louise's mood was once again shot to hell.

"I thought you escaped with Julio", Saito exclaimed in surprise.

"He made me swap places with Guiche in the last second", she replied, feeling guilty that Guiche was taking her place.

Everyone was shocked but no one complained. Guiche had quite suddenly become brave, which was more than anyone could say about the flamboyant boy.

"We need to come up with a plan, now", Agnès supplied. "The boy is many things, but not a fool. I doubt the Priest can keep him occupied for long"

"You", Agnès pointed at Tiffania. "I've heard that you can wipe people's memories"

"It's no use. I've already tried it on him", the half-elf cut in. "He snapped my wand"

"I'm sorry", she started off. "It's all my fault. It's all because I messed up the familiar summoning ritual and now everyone is suffering because of that."

Louise didn't think it was Tiffania's fault and neither did the others, but that didn't stop the half elf from tearing up. There was no way to know who or what would be summoned and at the end of the day, mistakes were bound to happen. She of all people knew of it.

"That's it", Colbert exclaimed. "There is a way to defeat the boy"

Everyone eyed the professor, half of them doubting his words, the other half too optimistic to care.

"Remember what his holiness said about the boy. The boy is without doubt a familiar and a void familiar no less. And this particular void familiar is said to be…"

Saito stopped Colbert and gave everyone a meaningful look. It seemed like everyone got the message which was left unknown to Tiffania, who wasn't even present when the Pope stated about the void familiar.

"Tiffa", Saito called. "Can you use your magic on the entire city?"

"That…", the forest fairy blanched. "That's impossible. I can at most wipe the memories of a small group of people"

"His holiness has told us that now that you've summoned your familiar, you can use your magic on a higher scale", Saito supplied. "You need to wipe the memories of yourself from the minds of everyone in the city"

"But…", She stumbled in her words, no doubt mentally questioning herself.

Agnès, figuring where Saito was going added, "Listen here, if word gets out that there was an elf sighted inside the holy country of Romalia, there will no doubt be chaos and pandemonium. You can't back out of it"

"Yes", the last remaining Dragon Knight agreed. "Even if we disclose your true nature, the people of this city are firm followers of Founder Brimir. They won't accept even an ounce of elven blood in these lands. They'll no doubt demand for more guards to patrol the city and we can't spare any"

"And stating that you're a void mage is out of the question", Colbert finished. "That will only cause more trouble than its worth"

Louise had a bad feeling about the plan but opted to stay quiet. They didn't have any better plan to go to so exhausting the boy was their best bet, though Tiffania didn't look all too confident in it.

"Listen Tiffa", Saito interjected. "You can do this, I believe in you"

Somehow the words seem to reassure the half-elf. She gave a firm nod and asked for a wand, which Louise willingly provided.

"It'll take some time but I'll do my best"

She closed her eyes, knelt down, interlaced her fingers as if praying and started to sing. Of course, every void spell had something to do with the Founder's items. For Tiffania is seemed like the song from the Founder's music box. On a side note, her sweet voice appear to sooth everyone present in the vicinity. Couple that with the setting sun and her natural beauty, she looked like an angel. The people surrounding her were dumbstruck on how someone so innocent and pure could summon someone who constantly emanated a metric ton amount of despair like a bloody fountain.

A swirl of leaves later, that fountain was among them again, sprinkling even more despair. Despair that took the form off a giant horned skeleton, which soon formed its muscles and tendons and armor and massive weapons coated in black flames that ate away the very light. Louise fainted, and everyone realized that the giant wasn't only getting closer, but getting bigger as well.

"It appears as though I'll have to get my answers by force", a voice spoke from within the hulking warrior in perfect French, and so Saito didn't have to translate that they were screwed.

But that didn't make them give up. The mages unloaded every bit of firepower they could on the ghostly giant. It did absolutely nothing but shatter their frail hopes. The giant lifted its massive flame coated sword and used it as an arrow, targeting the group.

"Everyone spread out", Agnès screamed and each person ran towards a different direction.

Saito grabbed Louise and ran for his dear life, but turned around to find that Tiffa wasn't going anywhere. So immersed was she in her song that she didn't even notice the battle going on behind her. Fortunately, the boy didn't target his primary hostage. That would betray the point of initially going after her. Unfortunately, Kirche was about to find out how hot his fire really was, quite literally.

"Kirche, look out", everyone shouted. But it was too late, or too early perhaps. Because a miracle just happened then.

The colossal goliath's weapon disappeared, then its armor disintegrated. Then came its muscles, its ligaments and its bones, finally leaving a very flabbergasted moon-eyed boy where it once stood. He eyed the glowing runes on his chest, looked at Tiffania and frowned. It was as if he could actually see where his life-force were going. Franticly, he materialized a few throwing knives from his sleeves and threw them at her. Fortunately, Saito used his gun to shoot the projectiles before they could hit their target. The boy however didn't lose his focus as he made a beeline for whoever was close.

Agnès had never let a man so much as touch her. Yet this boy plunged his hand through her clothes, grabbed the hidden flintlock pistol and as if already knowing that the barrel was empty, threw it right at Tiffania's head. The force he threw it in left little doubt in its goal to cave the unaware girl's head in and Saito was out of bullets. Luckily, the gun wasn't the only weapon in his arsenal. He threw the kunai with everything he had, which collided with the gun and to everyone's relief, narrowly missed the half-elf's head. The boy, finding no options, made a mad dash towards his target. But the mages weren't going to let him get to her, or so they thought.

He discarded his cloak, which caught fire from a flame snake. He leapt through a wall of fire, and closed his left eye. He maneuvered through a volley of giant ice lances, his blood red eye turned obsidian. He narrowly avoided being cleaved by a longsword, and had his target right before him. Lightning erupted from his hand and everyone looked in horror at the half-elf's imminent demise.

But the blow was never dealt. The runes on the boy's chest glowed intensively for a split second and the next thing everyone heard was the sound of two bodies hitting the floor.

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><p>Louise woke up to see the two moons hiding behind some clouds. She got up and saw that everyone was alright. Saito and the others were helping the two injured Dragon Knights whereas Agnès and the remaining Knight were discussing something out of earshot. Tiffania was unconscious behind her, no doubt due to her spell and the boy was collapsed in the middle of the street, a steady rising and falling of his chest being the only sign that he was alive.<p>

Relief hit her like a truck. The ordeal she went through today was nothing less than a war. She seriously had a better time facing dozens Albion airships. In a single day, she had had to conjure multiple area wide explosion when she could barely make two. But the worst part was when the boy was somehow draining her willpower. Anymore of that would have probably turned her brain into a vegetable. Nevertheless, she stomached it all and now, the nightmare was over. The boy was incapacitated and…

"He's gone", came the astonished shout of Colbert. "The boy has disappeared"

"Impossible! We had his limbs bound and his mouth and eyes covered", Agnès exclaimed in bewilderment while glaring daggers at the empty space where the boy was just moments ago.

In a moment, everyone were on guard. Saito had Derfflinger in one hand and the strange knife on the other. Kirche and Colbert were preparing their spells back to back. Tabitha was on the roof of a building as silent as ever whereas Agnès had decided to forgo her glares to unsheathe her sword along with the Knight. The formation they took had the boy's primary target surrounded from all sides and Louise was glad that she was with Tiffania.

"Don't worry Louise", Saito looked at her from the corner of his eye. "I'll protect both of…"

Louise had no idea why Saito's words died on his lips, nor did she know why his eyes had suddenly widen but one by one everyone faced her and strangely so, had the same reaction. She suddenly felt a very strong sense of déjà vu, as if this had happened to her just recently. Saito, Kirche, everyone. They were looking at her as if…

A soft and slender hand gripped her neck. Louise turned and thought it to be a dream when her eyes met her assailant's. The reason so was because she had never seen Tiffania hurt a fly before, but she had also never seen Tiffania having moon eyes either. Lastly, she had never seen Tiffania get mad at anyone. Even Beatrice, who had tried to have her boiled alive was forgiven. This Tiffania looked pissed as hell and terrifying enough to perhaps even have her mother cower in fear. She didn't think this Tiffania wouldn't hurt anyone. She didn't think her to be naïve. And she definitely didn't think her to be forgiving anymore.

Tiffania smirked, and all those implausible stories about the elves didn't seem too farfetched anymore.

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><p><strong>AN: Wow, a huge plot twist right? Well, you haven't read the next chapter yet. But, I'll keep you guessing. Next chapter, Rinnegan.<strong>


	4. Blast from the Past

**AN: So, yeah. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Special thanks to readers who gave critical reviews. A huge thanks to the guy who said my dialoguing is crap, because it really was. A very, very heartfelt thanks to that one guy who commended me on finishing Dark Souls 2 in 36 hours, it's a big deal guys! **

**The fact is, Sasuke can singlehandedly destroy entire nations but he doesn't do that. Why you ask? Because he's not a maniac who's too drunk on his power. Please keep your imaginations to yourselves. I know the feeling, I've played GTA. **

**Can anybody give me a clear explanation about the diversity of magic in Halkegenia? Regular magic, elven magic and other stuff. I read the wikia and almost died laughing. It's just Louise explaining magic to Saito copy pasted from the light novel. Bunch of lazy asshole. I also need someone to explain Julio's character to me. Is he good? Is he bad? Or is he gray? **

**P.S. I don't do cliché. I don't do harem. I don't ever want to hear a "Sasuke is faster than a bullet" speech from anyone ever again. God! I don't even care anymore. And finally, the pairing is not gonna be a big deal in this story, but I have something in mind. Seriously, trying to figure out an unbullshit way to pair Sasuke is freaking hard but rest assured, I've persevered. Now, on with the story.**

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><p><em>His hunt was coming to an end.<em>

When Saito saw Tiffania with moon eyes, he thought he was having a bad dream. When he saw her lifting Louise by her neck with one arm no less, it was officially his worst nightmare.

"Tiffa, what are you doing?", he asked, hoping with everything that it wasn't what he thought it was.

The half-elf didn't grace him with an answer, but did give a smirk that made him feel morally wrong. Tiffania would not in any circumstances smirk, ever. The boy had possessed Tiffa was the only explanation he could think of, and he doubted he was the only one having that thought, the spooky moon eyes being evidence to the contrary. In another place and time he might have had a wild imagination where he was the one possessing her body but right now, he felt only anguish in the revelation that he may have to hurt Tiffa to save Louise. Everyone were on the same page, a situation where saving Tiffa coincided with hurting her. His promise to protect both the girls, his vow to repay Tiffa for resurrecting him, suffice to say they were all shot to hell.

The boy, or rather Tiffa, looked terrifying with her moon-eyes. Her right hand was gripping Louise's neck, though fortunately she hadn't tried any vampire stuff. Her other hand was sluggishly gripping on open air and opening just as slowly. Saito understood that the window of opportunity he had to save Louise was closing fast, judging from the pace at which Tiffa was moving her left arm. The moon-eyed boy was trouble enough with just one arm, Saito didn't want to see what he could do with a pair.

However, the window was miraculously opened just then. Pissed off Tiffa was dazed at the sight of the two moons hanging in the middle of a mildly clouded sky, something Saito could have commiserated with if the situation weren't so hostile. Swiftly as possible, he grabbed Louise, who was conveniently released by the disordered half-elf and ran as fast as possible.

Not ready to abandon the opportunity, Agnès grabbed Tiffa from behind, hoping to pin her down only to find the girl disappear from her arms. A kick behind her knees made her buckle and a chop to her neck almost made her faint. Fortunately, a huge gale stopped a stunned Agnès from being kicked across the street. Kirche levitated her to safety whereas Tabitha fired an ice lance at Tiffa. The moon-eyed girl on her part, didn't even move. Instead, the projectile disappeared and reappeared right next to the one who fired it. Luckily for her, the tip was blunted, something meant to maim rather than kill.

The Dragon Knight tried to pin the girl down, only to be elbowed on the stomach, which made him involuntarily bend down and receive a devastating knee to his face. He could feel his cheek bone crack under the impact and imagined what would have happened if his helmet wasn't there to protect him. Though his helm and armor offered a level of protection, it didn't offer him any leniency from the moon-eyed girl's onslaught. Another high kick sent the Knight flying, which would be unbelievable itself with the girl's slender and petite build, however the assault didn't stop there. She delivered a barrage of punches and kicks in midair and ended with a sharp elbow that slammed the Knight on the ground, his armor dented beyond measure.

Tiffania didn't stop there. She grabbed the fallen Knight's longsword and swung it towards Kirche. The redhead ducked, and turned pale at the revelation that her long fiery red hair got neatly chopped right below her shoulders before a kick to the stomach sent her flying right towards Colbert. The two collided and collapsed in a heap. The half-elf didn't look as if she cared as she readied herself to attack the last person standing.

Saito had half a mind to run away, however Louise was behind him and he was going to keep one promise even if it took his life.

"Louise, run", she shouted, hoping with all his heart that he wouldn't have to see Louise's bravado today. That today she'd just do as he says and run away.

She didn't.

"I-I'm not leaving you b-behind Saito", she whimpered, clearly scared out of her wits, yet Saito knew that her decision wasn't going to change.

Saito was happy that Louise decided to stay, yet sad that she'd have to endure another horrible ordeal again. Nevertheless, he found comfort in the fact that the reason she choose to stay was because of him rather than some noble pride or her rule of steel. With this blissful thought in mind, he readied himself for the onslaught of Tiffa's assault, who in all honest opinion was clearly holding back till now.

But the attack never came.

Tiffa's eyes widen in shock when it abruptly started to rain, then narrowed. Saito had seen the same look on the moon-eyed boy's face when he first woke up after the summoning. It was a look of pure concentration, a look of pure calculation, moon eyes contemplating what the best course of action would be.

Saito didn't know what had Tiffa all spooked, but he wasn't going to sit by and find out. He grabbed Louise and carried her bridal style towards the others, while Tiffa started doing something strange, and was that a wand in her hand that he saw? He shook his head. He'd have to take Louise to safety first.

Everyone were, for lack of a better word, busted up. Agnès was trying to recover from her daze, or maybe it was a pressure point attack, Saito couldn't tell. Colbert was trying to help the Knight out of his armor, which by now looked like a liability more than an asset. Kirche wasn't like what he expected her to be. She wasn't fretting over her hair and was in the middle of trying to support Tabitha, who seriously looked like she'd seen better days. A water mage in their group could have made a big difference, but there was no use crying over spilt milk now.

Saito placed Louise beside the two electrocuted Knights with their dragons and shifted his attention to Tiffa, who now had her hair tied up in a high ponytail and doing something to the stack of swords she had before her. Predictably, Derfflinger was among those swords, so was Agnès's rapier, all three of the Knight's standard issue longswords and that giant claymore. He felt for the Kunai he had in his pocket, which miraculously disappeared into thin air. Further surveillance revealed it to be with Tiffa.

She can teleport anything including herself? With something like that, Saito doubted anyone could defeat her. Wait! Was she going to attack them using all of those weapons?

That proved to have been a false assumption as Tiffa quite brusquely started discarding all the weapons as if unsatisfied with them. Saito couldn't in any way comprehend why she would collect all the weapons, just to discard them.

"Why is she throwing those swords away?", he asked in complete perplexity.

"She isn't just throwing them away", Agnès disagreed. "She's making traps"

The answer Saito received only opened doorways to even more questions. Suffice to say he wasn't getting all the parts of the puzzle.

"Why would she make traps for us where it could clearly be seen? It doesn't make any sense", he asked again, unable to understand the reason behind the futile action.

"Why do you need to be so dense, darling?", Kirche voiced out in exasperation. "The traps aren't meant for us"

"What do you mean not for us?", Saito queried with a raised eyebrow, which was coincident enough to make the pissed off Agnès snap.

"Listen here you idiot! She, or rather, Moon-eyes hasn't taken us seriously since day one. What makes you think he'd make traps for us? He's clearly expecting someone else", Agnès narrowed her already glaring eyes. "The question is, who?"

"Someone who would warrant his attention this much? Whoever it is, I don't think he'll be on our side", Colbert provided.

Saito was trying to concentrate on the subject, but quite instinctually, his eyes kept straying towards Tiffa's breasts under her white shirt, which were conveniently soaked due to the rain. Then it hit him.

"She started making traps right after it started to rain. Does it seem to have any connection?", he asked in haste. The conscious Knight's expression of utter shock seemed to tell him that he was actually going somewhere here.

"Well? What is it?", Agnès asked, clearly interested in what the Knight had to say.

"It doesn't rain here in this time of year"

A cloaked and hooded figure made itself known in one of the rooftops. The face couldn't be seen from the angle but the figure radiated the same vibe as Moon-eyes. A vibe of ominous disparity that made you want to kill yourself in utter hopelessness. The half-elf was unperturbed.

"Blond hair and…", the figure spoke in Japanese, stopped midway and continued in French. "Your eyes, they look familiar. Who are you?"

The voice was smooth and young, yet having a tint of maturity. The question was obviously intended towards Tiffa as there weren't anyone with blond hair and weird eyes in the group. The moon-eyed forest fairy didn't reply.

"It's strange", the cloaked figure continued, unruffled by the lack of reply. "I finally feel something. My instincts are on high alert, something that hasn't happened ever since I woke up in this strange land..."

"...They're telling me to kill you, before you kill me"

Tiffania disappeared, and reappeared behind the cloaked figure, the kunai on her hand going right for the figure's neck. The cloaked man just uttered two words.

"Shinra Tensei"

Tiffa's eyes widened, and in a split second's time, she abandoned her assault and crossed her arms forming an X before an unseen force literally sent her flying towards a building behind her.

Suffice to say, no one expected that to happen. Moon-eyed Tiffa was in every shape and form, overpowering and invincible, able to defeat everyone in their group as efficiently and effortlessly as possible. For this new figure to have sent her flying, without even making a move no less, he had to be a monster.

"You can't sneak around me in this rain", the figure stated and uttered another two worded command that defied the laws of logic. "Bansho Tenin"

Tiffa flew out of the rubble like a ragdoll right towards the cloaked figure. At the last second, he lifted his arm and grabbed her by the neck. Tiffa was choking at the end of his pale hand, something that was considered impossible just a few minutes ago.

"Perhaps my instincts were wrong", the figure spoke in disappointment and used his other hand to remove his hood. "Tell me girl, do you recognize this face?"

The hood fell, revealing him to be a young boy maybe around Agnès's age, with vibrant red hair covering half of his face, weird light purple eyes which seemed to have an eerie glow and a complexion paler than anything anyone had ever seen before. The moon-eyed boy was pale, but this new boy changed the very definition of the word pale. It was as if he's never seen the sun in his life.

Tiffa didn't answer right away, but narrowed her eyes at the boy's eyes.

"I've never seen you in my life"

The pale boy stood silent for a few seconds before tossing the moon-eyed girl from the rooftop. Tiffa flipped in midair and landed nimbly on the street while excellently ignoring Derfflinger's annoying yapping, which magically appeared on her hand. The pale boy joined her on the street in a single leap.

"Yet, your eyes appear to have joggled my memories a bit. Let's see if you can do anymore"

Agnès knew a duel when she saw one. The two monsters disguised as people in front of her were no doubt getting ready to kill each other and judging from the dark aura both of them emanated, she was sure that anyone who got in their way wouldn't be spared.

So with great reluctancy she commanded, "Listen everyone. No one will interfere in this fight. This battle is well beyond us"

Though no one wanted to agree with the Musketeer, they doubted they could do much in their conditions. The battle that would ensue would undoubtedly be catastrophic and there were far too many injured to move them.

"What about Tiffa?", Louise questioned. "We can't leave her on her own"

"As you've noticed, Moon-eyes is currently controlling Miss Tiffania", Colbert cleared. "In the condition we're currently in, we'll be more of a burden than actual help to her"

"Let's just hope he's as ruthless to the new guy as he was to us", Kirche commented, to which everyone openly agreed with.

"Now come", the boy commanded, immediately materializing a black rod from his sleeves.

Tiffania complied and dashed towards the boy in top speed. Derf held in a reverse grip, she delivered a horizontal slash, which the boy parried effortlessly. Following the initial assault, Tiffa fluidly made several attempts at the boy's vital spots, which were all parried in as similar fashion.

"A sentient sword that consumes chakra at its purest form…", the boy said midblock. "…and the way you handle the blade"

"Everything! It feels so familiar, yet I cannot put name to face"

He blocked a particularly wide slash and pulled out another black rod to spear Tiffania. The rod however, met open air as she just vanished and reappeared behind the boy.

"That jutsu", the boy muttered and blocked the vertical two handed slash by forming an X with the two rods.

"Shinra…", he started and Tiffa quickly dashed back but couldn't make enough distance before the boy finished his command. "…Tensei"

A repulsive force of pure gravity released from the boy in the form of a sphere which expanded faster than a bullet. In a blink of an eye, the destructive force caught up with Tiffa. However, just before the technique hit her, in that split second's time she disappeared, and in her place was the one who initiated the technique. The force hit the boy like a bullet train, hurling his body through several walls, a few houses and an entire neighborhood whereas standing in the center of the huge crater was Tiffa, now closing her left eye.

It looked as if the fight was over. There was no way anyone could have survived that hit. Provided that they'd survive, it wasn't without lots and lots of broken bones. However, a nonchalant voice coming from the rubbles made the previously proclaimed assertion very doubtful.

"Kawarimi? No, it's the same jutsu you used to get behind me", the boy walked out of the rubble, relatively unharmed. "A dojutsu similar to the masked man's own, but if that is all you can do then…"

"You talk too much", Tiffa said in irritation before dashing towards the boy yet again.

The boy, composed even at the interruption just materialized the black rods in both hands and started to go on the offensive this time. The simple fact was, he was faster than Tiffa in every way. Unable to parry or block the boy's onslaught, she summoned a rapier but was quickly disarmed by a strike on the wrist. The boy took the opportunity to plunge one of his strange rods into the half-elf's chest, but the weapon didn't meet its mark as Tiffa blocked the rod at the price of getting her hand speared.

Right then she opened her left eye, and in her place came the hulking form of Sylphid. The dragon grabbed the boy with both clawed hands, effectively pinning both his arms inside. The boy simply eyed the massive beast before glancing at Tiffa, who was several meters away.

"A genjutsu", he stated, and another arm abruptly appeared from below his collar, an arm that dislodged at the wrist to reveal several segmented missiles pointed at Sylphid. They looked like fish for all she knew, so she didn't dodge the projectiles, but there wasn't actually any room to dodge at point blank range.

Three missiles fired, all three never hitting its mark as Sylphid was safely teleported beside Tiffa.

Saito was dumbstruck at the pale boy's extra robotic appendage. Bad enough that he could send people flying without making a move, but being a cyborg? He shook his head. He'd rather not think about the complication between his world and this, an extra arm acting as the staff of destruction be dammed.

"I see", came the cold voice of the pale boy, his third arm retracting back to nothingness. "I was wondering why you didn't try to flee with such a jutsu at your disposal. Then I realized that you can only use this jutsu within a certain range, which could be the reason you decided to fight. But then, my chakra rods didn't affect you in the slightest"

The boy narrowed his eyes at Tiffa and smiled.

"Furthermore, you haven't used any other jutsu. Perhaps you rely too much on your kenjutsu and dojutsu, but then again, even the way you use the blade seems forced. It's not that you don't use other jutsus, you just can't use them", he concluded. "I've been sensing a faint chakra source nearby. That isn't your real body is it?"

Tiffania didn't show any signs of approval, neither did she say anything to disapprove.

"Yes, the lack of chakra rods lead me to believe that this was your true body, but that isn't the case. You've used some other way to channel your chakra to the girl's body and have been augmenting it to suit your needs. However", the boy retorted. "The lack of chakra rods also means that you have no way to constantly supply that body with your chakra, and you're almost at your limit"

"You seem to know a lot about the Rinnegan", Tiffa accused, still nonchalant as ever.

"Is that what our eyes are called? Perhaps I do, if my memories serves right, you wouldn't be the first one to use this jutsu", the boy affirmed. "Now then, I'm sure the woman wouldn't mind me taking a detour. In fact…"

The boy didn't get to finish his words as Sylphid darted straight for him.

"It's rude to interrupt", he remarked while lifting his right hand and pointing it open palmed at the dragon. "Shinra Tensei"

This time Sylphid wasn't teleported to safety and felt the full extent of the repulsive force. The pale boy felt his neck skin crawl and quickly turned to face the teleporting Tiffa. But instead of the bewitched half-elf, the figure that appeared behind him was the bewitched dragon. Sylphid crashed onto the boy with the full force of his own technique, who didn't have enough time to reorient himself as he was teleported, yet again right onto the paths of two longswords held by Tiffa. The momentum of the collision did the job for the half-elf as the pale boy was impaled at his biceps.

But the attack didn't stop there. Tiffa reappeared behind the boy, grabbed the hilt of the two swords which made the boy's legs fly up due to inertia and stabbed the swords on the ground. She disappeared before anyone could even blink and the next thing everyone knew was the claymore, supported by Tiffa's weight, stabbed passed the boy's stomach onto the ground. She disappeared yet again and reappeared several meters away.

The whole thing lasted three seconds. In these three seconds the boy was effectively crucified to the ground by the use of swords no less. Tiffania was panting hard, with a tightly sealed left eye while the blood red one reverted back to its natural cerulean blue.

Saito figured that this chakra thing that the boy spoke of was finally out of the half-elf's system and approached her when she abruptly, started making several loops with her hands albeit sluggishly. That was all the signs he needed to know that he should get the hell out of there, but as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. He couldn't fathom what Moon-eyes was planning when his opponent was quite definitely dead.

"Are you done?" came the cold voice of the crucified boy, as if coming back from the dead just to spite him. Apparently, the pale cyborg was a juggernaut too, and it didn't look like any blood was coming from his wounds.

He lifted his head and glanced at Tiffania.

"Your hand signs mean nothing if you don't have any chakra to mold. Besides, that body requires a medium for it to exert chakra"

Tiffania didn't speak for a while, her hands making loops the only thing moving. But when she spoke, her voice was winter.

"You're right about this body. It's at its limit, so is my chakra", she sped up her hands. "But there are two things you've mistaken"

"I don't need my own chakra for this move", she crouched down, as if bracing for something.

"What do you mean…", the crucified boy started off, but was yet again interrupted by the half-elf.

"So sure of your invincibility. For the supposed leader of the Akatsuki, you sure are full of yourself"

The boy perked up. "You know who I am?"

"Yes, Orochimaru's research was very thorough. You see…", Tiffa smirked, which revealed thin wires, obstructed by the rain, which originated from her mouth all the way to the swords pinning the boy down. "…with the words replacing the hand signs, chakra is released through the mouth which is then absorbed by the catalyst and exerted at the point of focus"

A glance at the weapons widened the pale boy's eyes. Tied to the three swords were undoubtedly three wands each, which were rapidly starting to glow in power. She had used his own rain against him. Saito need for survival outweighed his curiosity and he ran away as fast as he could. He'd seen enough of Louise's explosions to know what was coming.

"Now then,", she stopped her hands at a loop where the right hand was interlaced above the left hand's index and middle finger. One look at Tiffa and the pale boy looked like he's seen a ghost. A ghost with long blond hair, blue right eye with the left covered and an insatiable love for art.

"Let me send you to a journey down memory lane"

"SHINRA…"

"**KATSU!**"

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><p><strong>AN: Dun, Dun, Dun. You know, I blatantly referenced God and Pain guys. If I wanted to describe Sasuke, I'd talk about hatred and killing Danzo and betrayal and killing Danzo and vengeance and the pure satisfaction of killing Danzo. <strong>


	5. Angels and Demons

**AN: Sorry for the late update. Apparently Dark Souls 1 is a fuck ton harder than Dark Souls 2. Nevertheless, i completed it in 40 hours. Now, I feel like shit because there are no games worth playing anymore. Mass Effect has never been any more boring. I actually wish I had amnesia so that I could experience Dark Souls again. *Sigh* but now I have a ton of free time I could devote to this fic. Don't mind the chapter length, it's sort of an interlude. **

**Please review.**

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><p>Tiffania woke up for the second time in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar company. She was in a yet another cozy room in the company of yet another woman, a noble by the look of it, who was using her water magic to heal her.<p>

The room looked luxurious, which seconded the fact that it was a noble's abode. The windows were big, the furniture, which included a small but elegant table and chair looked very expensive and a huge portrait of the mage was hung in one of the walls.

She peered down to see that her entire body was covered in bandages with a potent sent of ointment coming from the said bindings.

Now, this kind of episodes commonly happened with a headache, phantom pains in several parts of the body and an absolute confusion on how one ended up there. Tiffania felt the headache, a skull shattering migraine that made her want to pinch the bridge of her nose. However, she couldn't move her body in the slightest, her head being the only exception. She didn't feel pain in her body but didn't doubt for a second that the only thing between herself and intense agony was the water mage's constant healing. Contrary to the cool sensation of healing water on her body, the water mage's vacant eyes and mechanical movements was something she had seen before, quite disturbingly recently. However, she was getting healed and so, had no complaints.

That only left how she got there, something she seemed to recall perfectly. Fortunately, it didn't involve her sister, her 18th birthday, and a bottle of wine. Unfortunately, she wished it had been the former.

She recalled everything. Everything as in, the color of the sky when she was strangling Louise, the speck of dust on Agnès's face when she was remodeling the knight's armor, the housefly on Colbert's head while she was handing back her friend's backsides on a silver platter. She remembered every single detail of that fight as well as the one with the red haired boy and she had a feeling that the memory would never fade away. Personally, she'd rather have the pain.

Saito would surely forgive her, right? Surely unintentionally strangling Louise wouldn't count as a strike in his book? There wasn't any notion of Agnès forgiving her and Kirche…

Screwed didn't begin to describe her situation. To add insult to injury, she was a hostage, again. And this time she didn't have the benefit of the doubt. Her eyes started to tear up, no doubt in as entire revelation of how she might have lost what little friends she had. They would surely think this to be some elf thing and attack her the next chance they get. She should never have left her orphanage.

The silent weeping went unnoticed by the mage, who'd look as if she wouldn't bat an eyelash if a mass genocide were to take place in front of her.

Abruptly, the only door of the room opened and the moon-eyed boy walked in. He glanced at her sobbing state and looked distraught for once. It was as if he had no idea what to do. The awkwardness was only emancipated by the silent cries. Similar to what he did before, the boy merely glanced at the water mage and she silently exited the room. The boy schooled his features again into the emotionless mask and placed a loft of bread beside Tiffania's bed. He sat down on the chair and unrolled a parchment on the table and started to draw strange symbols on it using a brush and ink.

Tiffania didn't say anything. She didn't know why she was still a hostage, neither did she know how she was going to eat the food given to her with her body so uncooperative. Nevertheless, she wouldn't eat even if she could move. She lacked the stomach to contain any food with all the grief lingering about.

"I don't know how to remove the runes", Tiffania said softly, yet she knew it that the boy heard it. In fact, she expected the boy to already know this.

No reply came. Surely the boy knew that she had no knowledge on how to remove the runes, why would he still keep her hostage? A time when her sister was warning her of how men could commit several acts of depravity filled her thoughts. But, the boy didn't in any ways strike her as such a person. Why indeed.

"Why are you keeping me here?", she asked, her heart too filled with hurt to even be scared of the monster before her.

Still no answer. The boy seemed like he was ignoring her, with his back turned to her and all. Deliberately concentrating on the various strokes of his brush. There was no use talking to someone who was ignoring you. She reckoned him to keep stroking even if she fell off the bed.

Little did she know that in his line of occupation, ignorance to even a slightest hint was nothing short of asking for death. He couldn't ignore her even if he wanted to.

Sighing in agony, she voiced out a soft "What do you want?". Something she was sure he would ignore, but he said something. Something in his own language, probably voicing out his thought to himself. Nonetheless, Tiffania understood it.

"I don't know"

* * *

><p>In the large halls of the Cathedral, one Japanese native paced around in contemplation of what had happened the day before.<p>

Saito was perplexed at what to do after the explosion. It was grand, yet contained, pinpoint to be exact. There was no way anyone could have survived that. The others were far from the reach of the explosion and relatively safe and he had thought that Tiffania would go back to normal. However, when the dust had cleared, Tiffania was standing where she was, left eye closed, unmoving and poker-faced. It wasn't over yet, but that didn't stop Saito from calling out to her.

"Tiffa, are you alright?"

She didn't reply, but only faced the epicenter of the explosion in that same calculating focus. Then she eyed everyone with her now natural blue eye until her sight landed on him.

"Tiffa?", Saito asked again, hoping her to suddenly turn back to normal.

She didn't answer him. Rather, she turned around to leave.

"He's not dead", she finally spoke in monotone. "He'll be back, I suggest you leave this place"

Then she disappeared. Just like that, she had disappeared into nothingness again. Not that Saito was imagining things, but he was sure that there was concern hidden in those words. He had to believe it. Thinking otherwise would be saying Tiffa was dead inside. And from then till now, he never doubted Tiffa to be lost. His review of the prior event was abruptly halted by an unnaturally pale Germanian.

Strangely so, Kirche just had to adjust her hair slightly and voilà

,

her hair never looked like it was slash by a sword. The face however, didn't have her usual seductive smirk. It looked defeated.

"Tabitha is going to be alright, so is Louise and Guiche but…" she enunciated the last word as if she was implying there to be bad news. "Julio won't be waking up"

"What?" Saito blanched. Sure he didn't like Julio, but that didn't mean he'd want anything bad to happen to the priest.

"He's alive, but he just won't wake up. It's like he's in some sort of nightmare", Kirche said in exasperation.

The two made their way to the sick bay and strangely so, the priest was tossing and turning in his sleep. It was as if he was stuck in a nightmare which he couldn't wake up from. Saito shuddered from the implication. Montmorency showed up at that moment with a potion in hand. Perhaps a remedy for Julio's grievous situation he reckoned.

"What's that?", Kirche questioned with a raised eyebrow. The water mage in question lowered her head in what looked like shame.

"It's a love potion"

"What?", the Gandálfr exclaimed in bewilderment. The trouble the little concoction brewed was still fresh on his mind and he had no intention of letting anyone taste the colorful liquid.

"I-It's not like I wanted to make it", Montmorency quickly replied. "His holiness personally asked me to make it. It's for Julio. The special properties of the potion will force his mind to think of love"

Saito glanced at the downed priest. It really looked like he'd need any distraction he could find from his nightmares.

"We'll give him an antidote when he wakes up", Montmorency finished with her arms crossed and condescending like the noble she was.

"That's okay, but what about Tiffania?", Saito questioned. "What are we going to do?"

"We…", a voice unmistakably of the Pope came from behind him. "…are going to focus on Gallia's next move"

True enough, the Pope along with Queen Henrietta, Agnès and Louise was behind him.

"What about Tiffa, and the Moon-eyes? We can't let him get away with this", Saito demanded in frustration. He looked at the two girls beside the Pope who would definitely support him. Unfortunately, neither Henrietta nor Louise said anything.

The Pope gave a weary smile. "The founder's mirror was stolen by Gallian agents when everyone was after Miss Tiffania. I don't know if Joseph had a hand in everything that has happened, but what I do know is that he's planning something big"

He glanced at Julio's prone state and sighed. "I feel the same way Saito. This boy has caused us all a great deal of pain, but it doesn't mean we should forget everything else and seek revenge. Joseph can attack any day and Romalia has to prepare for the worst. We can't afford to make any other endeavors and ignore the safety of Romalia. Julio wouldn't have approved"

"But…", Saito was speechless. Not only was he stuck between the problems of finding one of his friends, he was also stuck between a budding war.

"I'm sorry, but sacrifices have to be made", the Pope concluded and motioned for Montmorency to feed Julio the potion. The twisted expression on his face vanished the moment the container of potion was emptied. Seeing the burdens of his familiar lessen, the Pope excused himself from the room, no doubt for his work.

"Don't worry Saito", Queen Henrietta reassured. "I've sent for help, Tristian's Special Forces will be searching for Tiffania"

This didn't seem to reassure the Chevalier and he ran his fingers through his hair in obvious frustration. This seemed to piss Louise off as she quickly made her irritation known.

"Stupid Saito, her highness just said…"

"Not now Louise", Saito cut her off. His world was or rather, his other world was crashing down around him and he didn't need to hear Louise's scolding now.

"How dare you…", the said mage started to shout too but was quickly silenced by her familiar yet again.

"I SAID NOT NOW", he shouted in anger. "Just leave me be"

Half the people in the room was expecting an explosion but Louise just kicked Saito in the shins and ran away in tears. "Stupid Saito…"

The Gandálfr didn't even react to the kick and just lean on the windowpane, obviously in his own world. Nobody spoke a word as they'd never seen this side of the black haired boy before. Most were even startled at this and quietly left the room clearly realizing that he didn't want to talk right then. In the end, the only occupants in the room was the unconscious priest and the crestfallen Gandálfr.

'Sacrifices have to be made'

Julio could clearly make some, but he didn't think he could make any.

* * *

><p>He was angry at what had happened. It wasn't his defeat he was angry at, moreover it was what happened after that infuriated him. He was blasted to oblivion and yet he still lived or rather, remained to see this day. This only cemented the fact that he wasn't normal. It was one thing to see his cut close itself. It was a whole different experience to see his whole body reform itself from scratch.<p>

It was the first time he had failed a mission, and quite frankly he didn't give a flying fuck. All he cared about was proving his existence and now, he knew that the god damn voices in his head were true. He should be dead, yet he was not.

When he came back empty handed, the woman was quite surprised. It was as if she was a 100% sure that he could carry out his mission to the letter. He remembered what she said to her that time. He remembered what he said to her that time.

He told her who he was. He told her what he was and what she was to him. It was the only thing he could think of that made sense. It was that only thing he had to cling on to.

"You seem different today. Did you…" she paused, unsure of what to say. "…remember?"

Yes he had. Him remembering anything was either a boon or a curse for her. But be that as it may, he answered truthfully for he had no reason to hide it.

"Yes"

She had perked up at the answer, her cool expression changing for a split second but he could read her like an open book. Unfortunately, she couldn't do the same. A pity, he remembered someone who could, but not anymore.

"Sheffield"

It was the first and the last time he would ever call her by her name, for soon, she wouldn't be known as such.

"Take me to the morgue"

She looked surprised and quickly hid it. It was also the first time he had asked anything which did not concern himself. That was what he saw on her face, however she couldn't be any more wrong. Without a question she had directed him to his destination. Only when they were truly alone from any prying eyes and ears except for the ones without life did she ask.

"What did you remember?"

He quenched his anger and took out a rose from his cloak. A rose made of paper that will never die. In a blink of an eye, he was in front of her. The close proximity made her take a step back. He didn't care. He knew that her heart belonged to someone else but it had to be her and no one else. He placed the rose atop her hair and gently stroked her head. Right then, she could have asked a thousand different questions, each one about his actions, however the one question that she did ask banish all doubts of his decision to make her his angel.

"Who are you?"

He smiled. In a room filled with corpses, it lost its appeal and his uncanny eyes only made the picture more frightening. She however stood her ground as he expected, for she was the only one permitted to not fear him.

"I am Pain", he said with unfocused eyes, his mind clearly in someplace else.

…

"I am God"

**Review ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I clearly have no idea what to name this chapter, so be my guest and suggest some cool titles. A few things to make clear. Naruto will not be making an appearance in this story. The Naruto characters that do make an appearance are there for a reason, not because they are my fav character. The romance I promised is gonna come much later in the story. I really suck at romance. And finally, just because two people have similar past does not mean they're best buds or they'd fall for each other. If you've read/watched Naruto, then you should know what they'd usually do to each other first. (Hint: Try to kill each other)**

**There's one line in this chapter which is the property of From Software's Dark Souls. From my favorite DS NPC, Hawkeye Gough, the badass Dragonslaying Giant, who for some reason shoots down Kalameet despite being blind, but nobody cares cause that cinematic was plain awesome. **

**My respect for dragons have also skyrocketed simply because I get OHK every single fucking time. Hats off to anyone whose managed to kill the ancient dragon. Now, on with the story. **

* * *

><p>Tiffania woke up to see that the boy was doing something strange to her body. Naturally, she screamed. The boy, annoyed at the reaction, put his hand on her mouth to silence her. She struggled, and apparently succeeded on getting away from the single armed boy. By getting away in actuality, she fell off the bed. On instinct, she made the most distance she could make from him. The boy made no move. He just stared at her with his eyes narrowed. The jolt of adrenaline wore off and she realized. She could move her body without any trouble. It was apparent that she cried herself to sleep but, for how long was she out? Judging from the light outside, it was night. There was no way she could heal that fast, elven blood or no.<p>

She also realized her clothes, or lack thereof and swiftly covered herself. The bandages that covered her once before were missing, and the boy had his shirt removed. Yet she didn't think he was doing what one would usually think he was doing, though it didn't stop her heart from beating like crazy. He got off the bed and threw the bed sheets at her, which she hurriedly took and covered herself. Then he waited for a few seconds before moving in front of her.

"Your left hand", he gently said and motioned for the said appendage. Without any motion he just stayed there with his lone hand out. It seemed like he wasn't going to take no for an answer, so reluctantly, she gave in.

A green glow enveloped his palm and in proxy, her own. The glow seemed to sooth her hand, which from what she remembered, was skewered in her fight against the red haired boy. It felt like healing magic, yet at the same time, it didn't. It was warm, whereas the healing water magic was cool. He must have been healing her all this time, and by the sweat she could see on his brows, it must be something he wasn't used to. Why would he go out of his way to heal her? That truly confused her, but she didn't think she could question him.

That was what her mind thought, but her heart was still beating hard, which would explain why she suddenly made her thoughts known.

"Why?"

He didn't answer, just kept focusing on the green glow. She figured he wouldn't answer and just sighed to herself.

The weird healing technique lasted for a few minutes, yet it felt like hours. She just couldn't stop her heart from racing. When he was finally done, he handed her a few clothes. She didn't know his intentions, but any clothes were a welcome at this point. Without a word she put them on. She figured him to keep watching like he did before, but he only faced away and started clothing himself. She was thankful of this and quickly finished dressing herself. It were the same clothes he gave her before, albeit washed.

She didn't know what had changed so suddenly in the boy. His aura of coldness had surprisingly turned into that of warmth and kindness. Perhaps she had misjudged him. Perhaps he was kind and gentle and she just judged him far too quickly.

"Thank you", she voiced out softly. He didn't answer, but it didn't dishearten her. She realized that it was just how he was.

It seemed like he had plans to go outside and he intended to take her with him. It wasn't like she had a choice in the matter. Hiding her ears behind a hooded cloak. She followed him in the dead of night. At least the two moons hanging from the cloudless sky was a welcomed sight.

The boy didn't make any conversation, simply opting to lead the way instead. He led her through several narrow alleys and finally stopped before a rundown tavern. It wasn't grand or anything, just a simple tavern in the middle of nowhere which looked like it needed some major cleaning. The place looked like someplace commoners would frequent and she just realized that she hadn't had the chance to eat anything for two days. Her stomach made it loud and clear. Embarrassing as it was, she kept in mind that she was in the company of a brick wall.

Abruptly, the same brick wall which seemed to have been warming up to her turned icy cold in a heartbeat. It was subtle, but she could feel the boy's aura turn vicious. It was like he was putting on a façade of unapproachableness, though she wasn't really sure why. Perhaps he was just uncomfortable with crowds so he put up a mask of indifference. Perhaps he was doing so to avoid attention. Or maybe, just maybe, he wasn't putting on a mask but rather, removing the mask of kindness. She really hoped it to be the former.

The interior was very jolly for its outer appearance, with several waitresses running about, serving without a doubt a large number of commoners. He sat before a secluded table and lowered his hood. She followed his lead and sat beside him but didn't deem to take her hood off. It wasn't like she had done anything wrong but strangely so, she could feel the glares of several people behind her back, no doubt the immediate females in the vicinity. His cold aura just appeared to arouse the opposite sex, though she had to admit, it would take a special type of courage to take his order. People really shouldn't take everything for face value.

One brave waitress decided to take a leap of faith and take his order. Her courage was in vain as the boy didn't reply whatsoever. He just ignored everything in his surrounding area and waved the poor girl away. Much to the half-elf's immediate displeasure, she didn't even get to order anything. Why would he take her to a tavern and order nothing? Hungry as she was, watching other people enjoy their food was a mental torture.

"You're drooling", he said in that same emotionless tone, which was something close to a deadpan, yet refined enough to look condescending.

Tiffania averted her eyes from the others and further lowered her hood in embarrassment. Why did the boy had to be so mean? Doesn't he have any idea why she was ogling at the meals? It seemed that being hungry was in her fate, but that didn't mean she was going to further embarrass herself. So with a heavy heart, she tried her best to control her pleading stomach.

It was sudden, for just a split second, barely enough to blink her eyes, but she felt a spin chilling aura, an aura that no doubt came from the boy beside her and from the looks of the people around them, they'd felt it to. It was like an expansion of the coldness he was exuding. Doubtlessly, it made everyone in the tavern flinch. It would have certainly caused an uproar but everyone just dismissed it. So immersed was she in the feeling that she didn't notice a little girl, maybe a few years younger than her, sit before the boy.

She looked noble by appearance, with blond hair and hazel eyes and her hair done up in twin tails. By any means, she didn't belong here. She must have taken a liking to the boy's appearance and thought him to be a commoner with unnatural good looks. A spoilt noble girl by the looks of it. That is what Tiffania thought, but the look of understanding on the little girl's eyes said otherwise.

"This place seem crowded, don't you think?", she purred and Tiffania felt morally wrong at what was happening. How old was this girl? 12? 13?, Yet she was without a doubt trying to flirt with the boy. That in itself was a very unbelievable thing to witness but what happened next made her jaw drop.

"Perhaps"

The boy actually replied. Why? What in the world was he thinking? Does he have a thing for little girls? What a way to destroy her innocence.

Tiffania looked worriedly at the little girl who just smirked and did something strange. The closest way to describe it was to compare it to the boy's abrupt expulsion of his cold aura. However, it went beyond that. The aura she felt wasn't as large as the boy's, but it was dense, uncontrolled and finally, disgusting. Half of the people in the tavern ran out the door, gagging on the way. The other half almost killed themselves with the knife and forks they held. She was suddenly glad her stomach was devoid of anything and had half the mind to get the hell out of there, but a firm hand belonging to the boy held her back. The girl in front of her wasn't a child, it was a monster.

"Now we have this place all to ourselves", the monster declared with a smile that made Tiffania's blood run cold. Before she was afraid of the little girl conversing with the boy, now it was the other way around. Neither able to stay or leave, she just silently crept close to the boy. She would take his coldness to that sickening feeling any day and was glad that the boy didn't fret about it.

"Orochimaru", the boy acknowledged.

"Ku ku ku…", the monster chuckled and said something in the boy's strange language.

"I had stolen your powers once. I'd know your chakra anywhere", the boy replied in the same language, his voice as cold as it could get.

It seemed like she could only understand the boy's speech, not the language. How convenient, though she wasn't going to let the boy find out. It seemed like the two knew each other. She couldn't help but be interested. The boy was an anomaly on his own but now that she could understand him, maybe she could figure something out. Yes, this conversation was the key. She had to listen closely to connect the dots, though the monster in the little girl's skin was looking too happy to be healthy.

"The reanimated shinobi", he continued. "Explain"

It seems like she was too hopeful. She should have known the boy to be as vague as possible and whatever the girl in front of her was saying was lost to her. Nevertheless, she listened diligently. There was something weird going on here and she'd get to the bottom of it.

The boy's eyes widened in what looked like surprise. It seems like whatever he heard was even enough to shock him. His eyes narrowed.

"You don't have your summons, are you sure you can defeat me?"

The girl crossed her arms in a condescending way and started to speak again, no fear in her stature. Whatever she said seem to be something important for the boy to back down in his verbal assault.

"Very well, but first I want information"

The little girl smirked in delight. She chuckled in that uncanny way and proceeded to say something which the boy listened in fascination. Tiffania didn't understand a thing, but what she could make out were names. Names like Louise, Henrietta, Vittorio, Joseph, Sheffield and finally, Karin. The girl glanced at her and she was suddenly filled with fear. Those once hazel eyes turned yellow scrutinizing her, taking all of her appearance in delight and thinking of several ways to defile her. If vandalism had eyes, Tiffania knew right then and there, what they'd look like. The little girl licked her lips, as if appreciating the specimen before her.

Of course, it didn't bode well with the boy. He gently placed his hand on the table, a gesture as non-threatening as it could get, but nevertheless the girl flinched and averted her eyes.

"I would get her myself, but as you can see her pet is a nuisance", she said in in an understandable language this time. "Gallia will attack soon. It'll be the perfect time to get her. Of course, provided that you take care of our leader-sama first. So, what do you say?"

The boy closed his eyes in contemplation for a few seconds and finally opened them with a reply. "Don't get me wrong, we are not allies. We just have similar goals"

"Then we have a deal", she smirked and passed a rolled parchment to the boy, which he unrolled to find a diagram of a symbol circled by several smaller symbols. He raised his eyebrow in question.

"The original Kusanagi Blade", she declared which elicited the boy's eyes to narrow. "Just like you treasure your eyes, I treasure this blade. I'll be expecting its return"

The boy pocketed the parchment and got up to leave. Tiffania quietly followed. She didn't want to stay anywhere near the little girl, however the said wolf in sheep's clothing wasn't finished.

"With eyes like those, you should already know how to remove that seal", she said with a smirk. "What's stopping you?"

The boy didn't answer.

* * *

><p>Saito plucked another grass from the courtyard which was previously a battleground. Personally, yanking the few remaining greenery of the toasted courtyard wasn't what you'd call healthy, but he had nothing better to do. Well, there lied the problem. There was nothing he could do. Reality was something he took for granted while facing the Albion army. That same reality came to torture him in a way where throwing his life away wasn't an option. Although, being suicidal never helped anyone.<p>

Nobody had approached him after the commotion in the sick bay, which he was grateful to. He didn't want to see the sad looks on his friend's faces and remind himself how useless he was. His back was devoid of any sentient weapon and before him was the weapon he'd feel too sick to use.

True, the kunai was handy in many ways. Melee or ranged, anything went as the user wanted it to. A Swiss army knife among all weapons. Albeit small, it was sturdy enough to parry almost all attacks. Which lead to the topic of his disgust from the weapon. A sword can be highlighted as a weapon to protect and that's how he felt about Derfflinger, but this thing. He didn't give it a second thought in the heat of the battle but when he touched this weapon, he would know every weak spot in a human body. How to kill in the most unorthodox methods and how to make sure the target was dead. Which would be okay in his book considering that it was a weapon but it went a step further for his liking. What tendons to sever in order to cause intense agonizing pain, how to put someone within the grasp of death and how to cause pain without having to kill the opponent. Truly, a decent weapon at its worst, a torture weapon at its best. The weapon wasn't meant for protecting, it was solely meant to make someone's life as miserable as possible. The thought of one of his friends held captive by the owner of such a weapon. The thought of being helpless while Tiffania could very well be in a state worse than death. It

made him sick to his stomach.

"Saito", a soft voice called out from behind him. He turned to find Siesta with a somewhat weary smile on her face. He really didn't want to see another smile like that but Siesta wasn't what you'd normally call a fighter so he was okay with her.

"Are you okay?", she asked with worry. He could clearly read the mood, she had come to check up on him, and they called him dense.

"Yes", he answered with a sigh and went back to uprooting more grasses. She frowned and sat beside him. After what looked like giving it some thought she spoke with finality.

"No, you're not", a soft hand gripped his own and stopped him in his action. For someone who wouldn't normally be called a fighter, she had quite the grip. "Tell me, what's bothering you?"

Saito didn't know if it was Siesta's caring nature, but he practically felt like telling her everything. He didn't have the strength to stop himself, and like a dam finally breaking under the pressure, he explained everything. She didn't stop him, just nodded along to everything he had to say. She had probably heard everything from someone else by this point, nevertheless she only listened without a word.

"I don't think I have it in me to make a sacrifice when the time comes", he said in unhidden frustration. "I really shouldn't make promises I can't keep"

The hand holding his hand suddenly tightened. He turned to see Siesta with firm determination on her face.

"Don't talk like that", she said in anger. He really didn't think she was capable of such an emotion, which made him astonishingly surprised. She held his hand between her own.

"If there's anyone who always keeps his promises, it's you"

He would have cheered up on the spot if he hadn't heard that one before. But still, for her to come up with the most cliché line in the movies on her own was impressive.

"What if I have to choose between two promises I've made? What if choosing one would doom the other? I don't think I have it in me to sacrifice one for another", he sighed in exhaustion. "There's even a chance that I don't keep any of my promises. A chance that I can't save Tiffania, or anyone for that matter"

He retracted his hand from her grasp and leaned back on them, giving the sky a clearly defeated look. He didn't want to make Siesta sad, but he really wasn't feeling like the one she had on her mind. She got up from her spot, presumably leaving when she suddenly hugged him from behind.

"Then don't choose", she said in a soft tone, like singing a lullaby. He'd be lying if he said that didn't surprise him. "You're forgetting that there's also a chance that you keep all your promises and you save everyone. It may be hard and at times you may fail, but learning from our mistakes is how we progress"

"But, how can I save anyone when I clearly don't stand a chance", he voiced out his dismay.

"That didn't stop you from coming to rescue me, did it?"

His eyes widened. The incident with Count Mott was so long ago that he'd all but forgotten what he did back then.

"Even when the odds were against you, you stood up for me and now, we're here, together. I couldn't imagine what would have happened to me if it weren't for you", she chuckled in the thought. "You didn't think of how or what. You were very rash. Always influencing the world around you whereas others would have simply gotten influenced by the world instead. It's why I lo…"

She stopped in her words. He didn't know what she was about to tell but he had heard enough. She was right, there was no use in pondering in self-pity. Just when had he turned this way? Whatever it may be, he had no intention of moping around.

He got up and faced Siesta with a smile, who for some reason had a full blown blush on her face. "I thought me being rash was a bad thing?"

She quickly composed herself and got up as well. "What's bravery without a dash of recklessness?"

"Thanks Siesta, that's just what I needed to hear", he thanked and picked up the kunai. Sure he hated what the runes were feeding him, but that never stopped him from using it the way he wanted. After all, it was just a tool. The wielder determined the way it's to be used. With another heart filled thanks to Siesta, he set off towards the direction of the Cathedral. First, he had to make amends with Louise.

Only when he was in speaking range of the void mage did he realize that it wasn't gonna be so easy. Tabitha and Kirche were with her so his difficulty only doubled. She being naturally angry at him, ignored his presence whereas the two other beside her just looked on in anticipation. Apologizing was harder than it seemed to be.

"Louise", he called, took a deep breath and shouted out. "I'M SORRY"

The look on Louise's face softened a bit, then redden at the realization of their audience. Shouting it out was really embarrassing, but it looked well worth it. Tabitha seems to lighten up, but he didn't want to think about it. His relationship with her was weird at best. Kirche just smiled in approval.

"S-Saito…"

That was all she could stutter before a man appeared behind her. A man with noble features wearing a cloak and piercings all over his face. He grabbed her in a vice grip and disappeared in thin air. It happened before Louise could even utter a word, further cementing that Saito's life was truly getting shot to hell. He just stared at the spot Louise was in in utter astonishment. Of course, Kirche wasn't so awestricken at the display but did summaries the whole fiasco in one word.

"Fuck"

Small and unnoticeable Tabitha may be, but everyone knew that she was always serious. Making a baby was way too unexpected to be considered seriousness on her part, but in matters of life and death, people followed her like mice following the piper.

"Gallian", she stated and Saito was now officially involved in this war. To give insult to injury, he recognized the eyes of the culprit with the piercings. They were the same uncanny ringed eyes of the pale red haired boy. Another anomaly in the already growing doubt in his resolve.

"W-We…", he stuttered at first, then said out in firm determination. "We need to inform this to the Pope"

Now both Louise and Tiffania were MIA and he didn't want to waste time in self-pity. He remembered what Siesta told him and although they sounded doubtful from what he thought a few seconds ago, he would try his best even if the odds were against him.

Naturally the Pope didn't take kidnapping of yet another of the void mage very well. By now, he would probably be thinking that he'd be next. Even Henrietta looked overly worried. But that wasn't the immediate concern right now. What was important right then was the action they'd take.

"We can't sit by idly anymore", he pronounced. "This has gotten too far"

A chorus of approval came from everyone.

"What do you propose then?", Henrietta interjected. "We should attack now?"

"The war is inevitable now. The only question is, which side will attack first? Our troops are ready to face the Gallian airships, but the close proximity to Aquileia is making the soldiers uneasy. We must evacuate the city first and ensure the safety of the civilians", the Captain from before stated his thoughts.

"Do as you must Captain", the Pope approved.

"His holiness", the Captain called. "We've also received information that Moon-eyes will be involved in this war"

"And where did you get this information", Agnès questioned.

"The source is unknown, but if this information do prove to be right…"

"Then Tiffania will be in Aquileia", Saito finished.

Everyone contemplated in silence for a while then Agnès spoke up.

"Sounds like a trap"

"Yes, it does", the Pope added. "What do you suggest we do?"

"I think", Saito spoke up. "We should send a small group of people to infiltrate the main Gallian airship"

Everyone were surprised at the boy. He wasn't a planner in their books and it was weird to see him come up with a plan for once.

"That", the Captain exclaimed. "Is actually a very good idea. The sooner we end the war, the better"

"And with its end, we can contribute more manpower in finding Tiffa…"

"But the problem lies here", the Captain interrupted. "How will we identify the airship?"

"Leave that to me, I can find it", Saito spoke up again and explained his plan to everyone present. When he finally finished, he was getting weird looks from everyone. Agnès summed up everyone's thoughts with one sentence.

"You're either really brave or just plain stupid"

Saito smiled.

"What's bravery without a dash of recklessness?"

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><p>Sheffield was one of those people who always knew her situation. She had grown up with many betrayals, treachery and hardships in her early life. Pretty soon, she was the one who was doing the betraying rather than the other way around. So numbed was she with the world that she lost all emotions towards others. She hated her life then, and when she was summoned by Prince Joseph, who was more or less in her same position, her thoughts were to use the man to her advantage. However, as the years passed by, she soon felt love towards the man. A love created by the familiar runes, but never the less, it made her happy.<p>

She knew early on that the only individual that she'd ever love was herself, the runes altered that and made her fall for the man. A false love it may be, but she was content with it as she never thought she would ever love anybody other than herself. Even though the Prince became a King, even though he had a child with someone else, she was just happy to feel the emotion she'd probably never have felt. The emotion called love.

But her relationship with Pain was a different story altogether. The pale boy materialized out of thin air from a magical container she accidentally opened. A magical artifact that even her familiar runes couldn't fully discern. The Totsaka Blade.

She couldn't fathom how her runes told her that it was a blade despite clearly being some kind of container, but she gave it up as a lost cause. But the boy, he was different. When she touched him her familiar runes glowed as if reacting to a magical artifact, despite the boy not being an artifact. One thing led to another and she suspected him to have the same kind of feelings to their relationship as she had with Joseph. Only, he turned out entirely different after one failed mission. She didn't think she had control over him after then, but thankfully, the unbelievably strong humanoid magical artifact declared himself to be god and her, his angel.

She was careful after that encounter. He was like a different person altogether after then. Before he used to care for everyone around him. But now, he had a goal, world peace he said and refused to disclose anything more. Now, he didn't care about the little things and she knew for a fact that he would whole heartedly agree on the means, so long as they give results.

So, he could make it rain, he could raise the dead as a manifestation of himself, he could survive being blasted to oblivion, it really didn't come close to how he so readily killed in the name of world peace. Fortunately, his goals seem to intertwine with Joseph's so she didn't care.

"I have secured the girl", he said through one of his undead bodies, the Deva Path as it was known.

"Good, we can initiate our plans now", she declared and folded her arms. "What about the Moon-eyed boy? My spy has confirmed that he'll be in Aquileia"

The undead body did not show any emotion.

"He is strong enough, perhaps even stronger than me"

This shocked her. Clearly she thought the failed mission was just a lucky fluke.

"He'll still be healing at this point", she advised. "You can send your disposable undead to finish him off"

The fake Pain stood silent, this meant the real one was going through a myriad of emotions. She had a feeling he was probably laughing at her.

"He is strong", she said in irritation. "Shouldn't we eliminate him before he becomes a threat?"

"No", he said firmly. "I remember him. He's someone who would go to any length to achieve his goals"

So basically, Moon-eyes was just the same as Pain. She wasn't sure what he was planning by ignoring a clear threat to himself. She wasn't sure why she even cared. Pain trusted her, but she couldn't say the same about him. After all, only idiots trusted her, but Pain was no fool. He could probably anticipate her every thoughts and actions. Unnerving it may be, she felt a little happy for being trusted even though her nature was so apparent.

He smiled, an action she thought was beyond the undead Pain's ability and faced her.

"We shall recruit him to our cause"

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